The Other Dimension
by xnobody13
Summary: And the last thing they saw before the light blinded them was the sight of everyone falling.
1. Prolouge 01

THE OTHER DIMENSION

RATED M

XNOBODY13

* * *

_Friday, February 13__th_

_ Ryoo High_

_ Gym_

_ Science fair_

Have you ever wondered what you would do if you were in an isolated place with a group of people, stuck in a survival situation where no help was coming? It is a bizarre question, says I, but sometimes, you just got to answer the most difficult questions. What would you do? Would you help everyone else? Would you be a leader? Maybe you'll be the traitor, or the hated one, or the outsider. You'll never know, unless you were actually there to experience what those kids saw, those growing teens, which all had a whole life ahead of them.

Like I said, it is strange to be asked this type of question, yet it was an actual assessment that the students at Ryoo high school had to answer. Many just half-assed their answer, while others just pondered in their seats. Only about three actually took the question into consideration, but that's all behind us now. Now, this science fair was going on. No one knew why there was one; the school never had one before. It was just an exhibit of all scientific goodness from around the world. It wasn't at all like a cultural festival, so no one really cared for the festival. Sad to say, they should've.

_Kagami_

Kagami walked out of the classroom rather quickly. She didn't want to admit it, but the assessment kind of freaked her out. It was a pretty deep question, and requiring a simple minded high school student to answer it was quite a strange doing. She sighed. She already knew that no one cared for the question as much as her, and she was just a fool to be in ail by a stupid school question. She would've liked to have stayed in her thoughts for just a bit longer, but her brown-haired friend caught her by surprise.

"oi, Hiiragi!" Misao cried at the top of her lungs, catching everyone by surprise. Kagami grunted at the sight of her. Misao could get annoying at times.

"Quiet down, Misao! Don't cause a scene!" Kagami yelled. Now she drew everyone by surprise, and they all simply walked on towards the fair. Misao looked disappointed.

"C'mon, Hiiragi, don't be such a monster! We get out of classes today. Sure the whole thing seems pointless and, well stupid, but it saves us from doing work!" Misao said cheerfully, patting Kagami's back. However, Kagami shoved Misao away, something she never did before. Misao was stricken with sadness at first, but slowly realized why Kagami was deep in thought, and smiled menacingly.

"Ah, did Hiiragi get scared over that question? Don't worry about it! I was a little creeped out myself, but you just got to realize that it was a question possibly made by some retard who just wants to give us high school girls a scare," Misao said. Kagami, however, dismissed what Misao said. She didn't care if it was that. For some reason, the question just bothered her. Misao sighed in defeat.

"Boy, Hiiragi, you sure are boring. Do you know where Ayano ran off to?" Misao asked. However, Kagami was well on her way down the stairs to the gym, so she didn't hear a single word Misao just said.

_Konata_

It was true. Konata skipped the writing assessment all together. She just couldn't stand sitting in her desk for more than an hour, writing an answer that probably wouldn't be seen ever again. However, she didn't hear of the Science fair being held, so once she snuck out, she was caught by a man wanting to tell her of his theory. Konata wanted to get away, but he grabbed her and pulled her in. He then proceeded to tell her all about black holes and manipulation, and included thousands of big words Konata didn't understand. She now regretted leaving the class, as she spent the next hour learning about how black holes manipulate time. It was actually a plan thought out by her teacher, Nanako Kuroi, who knew that someone was going to sneak out. It was funny, since Konata had to take the assessment sometime or another.

Once everyone flooded the room for the fair, Konata was allowed to be freed from her imprisonment. She was glad to see Tsukasa walking in, and she quickly ran up to her.

"Oh, Tsukasa, it was horrible! A man made me listen to his theory or somethin' about black holes! Why did our school allow him in?" Konata said to Tsukasa, kneeling on the ground, clinging to her shirt. Tsukasa didn't know that Konata skipped the assessment, so she smiled embarrassingly.

"Kona-chan, he was just a visitor. You know, for the science fair today?" Tsukasa said. She didn't receive an answer. All she got was Konata getting up off the ground, pale-faced and defeated, and heading towards a chair. She sat down, and looked at the floor, giving Tsukasa the creeps. Konata wasn't going to listen to anymore theories that day.

_Miyuki_

Miyuki found that the topics being discussed at the fair were actually quite interesting. Sure, she would've preferred not to have to listen to long, painful descriptions, but at least the topic was clear and interesting. She saw many of her friends there and even had Tsukasa join in with her party. Miyuki caught sight of a boy, around her age, with a strange arch, standing in the middle of the room.

"My friend, I have made an invention like no one has ever seen before!" he yelled. Miyuki could identify him. He was Kyon, a student constantly picked on in school over his nerdiness and psychotic attitude. His voice echoed throughout the busy room, almost silencing other speakers.

"Why does he have to be so loud?" Tsukasa asked, clinging to Miyuki's arm. She was getting a headache from the rapid conversations going on. Miyuki didn't know how to answer her, and simply smiled. As she smiled, her pink hair swayed from a sudden gust of wind, which belonged to a well-built boy. Tall for his age, he towered over Kyon, looking menacingly down at his face.

"Well, nerd, your "invention" better be good. Otherwise, I'll have a pretty good reason to rip your vocal cords out!" the boy yelled. Kyon grimaced, but held his hands up, commissioning the boy to walk back into the crowd.

It was one of the first times that Miyuki saw the boy. She didn't know who he was. Probably Nagaru or something like that. Miyuki and Tsukasa loathed the boy to a major degree, but every other girl either loved him, or at least thought he was cool. She almost laughed at him being thrown out of the presentation. Kyon adjusted his blazer and continued.

"Now then, allow me to continue. This machine will bring you to your fantasy world. How cool does that sound?" Kyon said, smiling geekishly, holding two thumbs up, awaiting for applause. However, all the people simply laughed out loud, some falling over. Kyon was confused.

"Stop it! I'm not kidding, my project really does work!" Kyon said, throwing his fists down in frustration. No one cared for what he said. However, Miyuki raised her hand. Kyon saw the lone hand and said:

"Yes, do you have a question?"

Everyone stopped abruptly as Miyuki walked to the front of the crowd, Tsukasa trailing her. Most of the boys gawked at her appearance, but Miyuki ignored them.

"Um, you said that your invention can bring a person to their fantasy world, right? I need to know, does it have to read your mind?" Miyuki asked. It did perplex her greatly. Everyone still remained quiet. Whenever Miyuki spoke, everyone listened. It was either her looks or her intelligence that got everyone's attention, but whatever it was, everyone listened.

Kyon pretended to adjust a fake collar and answered "good question, my fair lady. Yes, it reads your mind to bring you to your fantasy world. However, you all must remember this: whatever you are thinking at the moment the machine reads your mind, you will be teleported to that thought," He said, touching the edge of the machine.

Miyuki wasn't taking any of it too seriously. There was no possible way a machine could read your mind, let alone being teleported to said thought. But she still wanted to listen to it. Maybe it would get interesting if a trial was performed.

_Yutaka_

Yutaka, regardless of her condition, went to school that day. It was the school's first science fair, and since she excelled at science, she thought that her teacher wanted her to be here. She was currently fighting a cold, so it didn't fully affect her, but she still wanted to stay home.

She did take the assessment, and indeed, she was frightened by it. No, it wasn't the question itself, but instead it was the fact that she didn't know how to answer it. She was only able to write a paragraph before the bell, so she probably failed it. Either way, she didn't care.

While walking to the fair, she came across Hiyori, one of her friends. Hiyori didn't mind the assessment at all, so she was quite happy to see Yutaka.

"Osu, Hiyori-san, has anything interesting happened yet?" Yutaka asked, giving a cheerful smile. Hiyori's smile turned quickly into a frown, and she slumped down in a chair, just two down from Konata's.

"I wished something did happen. The guys keep talking in a language I don't understand, and there's nothing to do but listen," Hiyori said, tilting her head sideway to show her drowsiness. Yutaka smiled sheepishly and sat down next to her, attracting her cousin's attention. Konata jumped from her seat and landed right next to Yutaka.

"Yutaka, get me out of here! I'll do anything, even your homework!" Please, just make the torment stop!" Konata said, putting her hands into praying position right next to her. Yutaka chuckled at her sister's despair.

"Onee-chan, it can't be that bad. Some of these exhibits seem interesting," Yutaka said. However, both Hiyori and Konata slumped in their seats. Yutaka was about to get up, when a strange beam of light filled the room.

_Ayano_

Unlike the other girls, Ayano was in the bathroom, crying to herself. The question really did affect her, and made her not want to show up to the fair. It probably wasn't entertaining anyways.

She didn't know what was going on, but the question smacked her directly in the heart. As she read the paragraph, she imagined everyone she knew on a deserted island, with no food or anyway to contact help. They attacked each other, killed each other, until it was just her, standing around her fallen friends, with nothing to do. And due to this thought, she couldn't write anything down. All she did was sulk in her seat, and after the time was up she ran directly into the bathroom, ignoring Misao's promise to meet at the fair.

As her tears fell, she heard the door open. Ayano quickly drew the tears back into her eyes and pretended to wash her hands. It would've been embarrassing for anyone to see her cry, even worse if it was Misao. However, the person walked to the sink and washed her hands. There appeared to be dirt covering her hands. Ayano slowly looked up at the others face. It was Minami, just looking down at the falling water, her green hair still cut short. Ayano never really talked to Minami, since they never really were the closest of friends.

"Um, how are you enjoying the festival?" Ayano asked, starting up a conversation. She didn't realize that her voice still sounded like she was crying. Minami didn't look up.

"It's alright," Minami replied. Her hands were almost clean.

"Um…I'm Ayano. I'm friends with Kagami-san and Misao-san, if you know them," Ayano said, trying to smile. Minami still didn't look up.

"Okay," Minami replied. She turned off the faucet, went to grab a paper towel, and walked out. Ayano sighed in relief. She knew she had to go to the festival soon. She just needed more time.

Then, it got really bright.

_Patricia_

Like Miyuki and Tsukasa, Patricia was also listening to Kyon. She didn't care at all for what he was saying, so she aimlessly around the gym. Being so bored, she never noticed that the gym was very tall in size and stature. As she looked at dust gathering around her feet, she heard the question:

"Anyone want to volunteer?"

Patricia didn't hear any part of the conversation, but she loved to volunteer. She always felt that every moment was a moment to shine. She quickly ran through the crowd, pushing away blazers and sailor suits as she ran to Kyon.

"I want to!" Patricia yelled, waving her hand in the air rather quickly. Kyon was taken by surprise.

"Alright, my lovely volunteer, please come up and stand inside the arch!" Kyon said proudly. While others pondered whether this was staged or not, Patricia ran up to the Arch and stood inside. She smiled cheerfully at the crowd. Patricia's smile was contagious, and it made everyone she was looking at smile.

Kyon clapped his hands and chuckled. He pulled out a remote that looked like it controlled a toy car and pointed it at the arch. "Now everyone, once I press this switch, Patricia will fall asleep and she will be teleported to her fantasy world. We can observe her through this monitor," Kyon said, pointing towards a rather large computer monitor. Already, a bigger crowd was attracted to Kyon's machine, all wondering if the machine would work.

Once everyone stopped crowding around, Kyon began the countdown.

"5…4…3…2…,"

He was suddenly interrupted by a crumbled-up piece of paper lunged at him. Kyon quickly turned to see who it was. It was Nagaru, the boy who yelled at him earlier. He had a whole load of crumbled-up paper.

"You damn idiot! You stay away from Patricia. That thing is going to kill her!" Nagaru yelled, throwing another piece of paper. This one hit Kyon directly in the face. Patricia was getting aggravated. She felt that the project was fun, and she wanted to see her fantasy world, but damned Nagaru wouldn't allow her.

It was true, Nagaru loved her. He wanted her so badly. But Patricia hated him; she wasn't interested in the tough guy. Yet Nagaru never stopped; he always sent terribly-written love letters to him, and also hurt others just to impress her. Patricia hoped that he would understand that she wasn't into him, but Nagaru was very persistent.

"Listen Nagaru, she will be fine-" Kyon was interrupted by Nagaru pulling him up by the collar. Kyon's blazer was pretty tight on him, so the fabric began to rip. Nagaru punched Kyon square in the face, blooding his face. Patricia stepped out of the arch.

"Please you two, don't fight. Nagaru, I'll be alright!" Patricia said, trying to hold them apart from each other. She was actually succeeding at pulling them apart.

Then she pushed them.

_Misao_

The whole fair was pointless, at least according to Misao. Nothing at all was interesting, nor was anything eye-popping or even worthwhile. Who gives a damn about science anyways? Misao surely didn't. She didn't even know what the word "science" meant.

She could've sworn that she wanted Ayano to meet her by the chemistry exhibit. If anything, Misao could at least have a friend to witness the shallow horror. She wanted Kagami to hang out, but Kagami was too moody, and quite possibly was hanging out with Konata.

(_Damn you chibikko)_

However, Ayano still hadn't shown up, and Misao was beginning to lose hope. Sighing, she decided to walk around, after standing in place for more than 30 minutes. She wasn't the typical non-eccentric girl in high school, no, she was to hyper, to crazy.

_The things that sealed her fate_…

In actuality, Misao was indeed creeped out by the odd question for the assessment. Adter reading it, shivers went spiraling down her spine, and all her energy was thrown out the window. Still, she answered it like she didn't care. She only wrote 3 sentences, and that was her answer. However, the last sentence that she wrote, well, she felt like it wasn't her writing anymore. The first two sentences felt right, but the last one…

"I would also flee; everyone could die for all I care…"

Misao never finished a sentence with ellipsis before, and after writing it, her hand cramped up. The whole sentence seemed to be alive, and was beckoning her. It taunted her, it wanted her, and it spooked her. Yet, once the bell rang, she simply ignored it. Still, the sentence appeared to have been following her, for its presence still remained.

As she looked at an estranged statue, yells came echoing off the walls. Misao looked around herself as people began to rush to another booth. Misao thought to herself for a second, and then decided to follow the rest; If it was something remotely interesting, than she had to see it, even if it was disgusting.

The first thing she saw was Konata sitting down in a seat, looking at the floor, looking bored. Kagami was no where in sight. Misao did feel remorseful at first for the blue-haired girl, but the feeling passed, and she couldn't help but laugh at the sight. Seeing her fellow chibikko defeated was a sight for sore eyes.

Then she heard the arguing at the podium. Breaking through the crowd, she noticed that two kids, Kyon and Nagaru, were starting to fight, with an American (_Patricia, right?_) trying to intervene. At first, Misao didn't care for it, and then an idea sprung into her mind.

She knew that her assessment answer was terrible, and her sensei might mark her down as a failure. No, Misao wouldn't allow that. She looked around and saw her sensei running through the crowd. She began to think. Could it be possible to impress her sensei by breaking up a fight so that he will raise her grade?

It was stupid enough to work.

Before anyone could do anything, Misao dashed through the crowd. Many tried to shrug her away, but she pushed them and picked up her pace. She was an excellent track-runner, so dodging obstacles wasn't the hardest thing to do. Once she made it to the clearing, she looked back. Her sensei was far behind. _Perfect_, Misao thought. With that, she dashed to the podium at top speed.

"HEY, STOP FIGHTING IN THE NAME OF KUSAKABE!" Misao yelled at the top of her lungs. Kyon, Nagaru, and Patricia stopped what they were doing and looked dumbfounded at the short-haired girl. It at first looked like she was just running towards them. But then, Kyon made a horrible realization. Misao appeared to have tripped after her yell. The machine did have a fault; if anything hit it at the right speed and velocity, then the machine would spiral out of control. What it'll do was a mystery to Kyon.

"Hey, hey! Stop!" Kyon tried to yell, but Misao still fell full throttle. As she bumped into Kyon, A whole nightmare scenario played in his mind. What would happen? Would every body's minds get combined? Would they all vaporize into dust? Would all of their genes be rewritten as time reverts itself? He didn't know. Sad to say, he would soon find out.

As he fell back, he bumped into Patricia, who bumped into Nagaru. Since Nagaru was a big guy, once he fell on the machine, he clearly made a dent. The machine was well built, but had very weak metal as its skin. Once Nagaru hit the machine, a strange humming sound filled the room…

…and all hell broke loose

_General_

Everyone began to move away from the machine as the humming sound grew louder. Kyon recovered from his fall, and quickly ran to the machine. He pulled out the controller and fiddled with it, pressing every button, every combination. He trained in stopping disasters, but this one was reverting. The humming grew louder, and Kyon was growing a headache. Murmurs were heard from the crowd as they moved even farther back.

_What the hell is going on?_ Kyon thought to himself as he stepped into the machine. What he saw shocked him. Inside the archway, right at the top, strange molecule-like objects began to form. They faded in and out of focus, with many being chemically combined with the air. Kyon thought it was a marvelous sight, but then the answer came to him.

_What it this, a quantum leap? But atoms can't be seen! What the hell… oh no…_

He knew what was happening. He looked back at the crowd, who were equally as frightened as he was. Nagaru and Patricia ran back to the crowd, with Nagaru giving him a menacing glare. Kyon decided to calm the crowd down.

"Don't worry every body…" was all Kyon could say before the humming drowned him out. What happened next was a strange event never experienced in the science world, or in normal life. Many might describe the power as being the same as a black hole. But no, you didn't see what they saw.

A blinding light soon broke through the gym, extending its death light throughout the crowd. The humming grew louder. Every one fell to the ground, holding their ears as the noise rushed by them. Their eyes were literally bleeding as the light stabbed their corneas. Many tried to fight the awesome power of the strange occurrence, but all they could do was flop around the ground, holding their bleeding ears and eyes as the ordeal happened right in front of them.

Then, a massive gravitational outburst occurred. Many of the people on the ground flopping around were forcibly flung off the ground, and into the wall or ceiling. The whole building changed its shape and direction, rapidly changing from being on the ground lateral to being vertical, sending everyone with its change of direction. Anything that was metal was completely twisted, including doors, bars, necklaces still wrapped around people's necks, choking the life out of them. The walls vibrated, and the windows began to hum a breaking tune. As soon as everyone thought that the worse was about to come, everything turned white from the brightness, and everyone still alive was now unconscious.

And the last thing Nanako Kuroi wanted to do was almost completed.


	2. Prolouge 02

_Day 01_

_Ryoo High_

_Gym_

_Unknown reason_

_Konata_

What time is it? What day is it? Why is it so dark? Is it nighttime?

These questions raced through Konata's eyes as her emerald eyes were shown to the world once more. She had a devastating headache going on at the moment, and her whole body was still shaken from the incident. She didn't even know that she was asleep. All she remembered was that eye-blinding light.

But then her eyes adjusted to the local scenery. What used to be an obnoxious fair was all gone. All of the stands, all of the booths, all of the scientists, all gone, and nothing remained of them in the lurking shadows. Konata rubbed her head, and felt a strange liquid. It definitely wasn't water; water was more slippery. No, this was thick substance.

_Am-am I bleeding? _Konata asked herself in her head. She pulled her hand away from her head, and she tried to peer at her fingers. There was no light, so she had to heavily stare at her fingers, straining her headache even more. However, her eyes soon adjusted, and she saw the substance. There was no doubt about it; she was bleeding. Before she did anything else, she checked her whole body. Other than the cut on her head, she was perfectly fine.

Then she tried to sit up. Somehow, she wounded up on the floor, while she knew that she was sitting on a chair just moments ago. Was it moments ago? She didn't know, but as she attempted to sit up, she smacked against the bottom of a chair. She lifted her hands up and felt above her. It indeed was a chair, somehow positioned right on top of her. She tried to push it off of her, but it wouldn't budge. Unbeknownst to her, dozens of chairs were stacked on top of the one she was under. It might seem odd, but those chairs saved her life.

So, Konata did the only thing she could think of, and that was to slide out. She extended her arm out to feel for the legs. Her armed eventually grabbed a piece of wood with her left hand. Using this as a stationary cane, and slowly crawled out from under the wreckage. She didn't feel it at first, but her feet were killing her. It felt like she ran a whole mile without even getting warmed up, and now she was paying the price.

Once she made it out, she couldn't help but utter a short scream of anguish. Her feet were actually pretty beaten up, and she felt some blood trickling down her ankle. She didn't even remember what fully happened. But that didn't concern her at the moment. What concerned her at the moment was this:

Where was everyone else?

It was very dark, but there was some light to see just a couple of feet ahead. Yet, all she saw were lumps covering the floor. At the time, she didn't know that these lumps were even people; she just thought that they were there.

She located the arm of the chair, and tried to lift herself up. However, it felt like someone just stabbed her, and she quickly collapsed to the ground. Without even knowing it, she let out another ear-piercing scream that awoke some of those lumps up.

_Kagami_

Kagami awoke with a sudden jolt. Then again, she didn't remember even sleeping, but that didn't matter. She heard a scream that sounded all too familiar. Once she opened her eyes, all she saw was the darkness looking back at her. It was a weird sight, that darkness. It wasn't the darkness she knew. The darkness she knew was more of a simple shade, but this darkness was more menacing, more eerie…

More empty.

But that didn't matter either. That scream sounded familiar, and it was awfully close. Kagami had no choice but to follow it. She wanted to yell for the person, but her throat was very dry. She didn't know why that was. She drank plenty of water this morning. Was it still this morning?

She managed to stand up, and she tried to look around, but nothing was clear. It was too dark for her to see, so she decided to close her eyes and wait for a minute.

Then she heard the cry again. Kagami shook her head, and started heading towards the general location of the scream.

"Hey, is anyone there?" Kagami yelled once more. She looked around, but nothing still popped out. Anything around her was now tinted in a bluish color, making the whole scenery look more mystical.

"Huh? Kagami? I'm over here, please help!" Kagami heard from afar. There was no doubt about it; it was Konata crying for help. Kagami couldn't believe that someone was still here, since the whole area looked deserted. Still, she had to walk over strange hills on the ground, which seemed to have been fidgeting around. Kagami thought it was the darkness playing tricks on her, and so she simply ignored them.

She took one more look, and saw a big tower just a couple of meters away. She was confused by it. It just seemed so…out of place. But she heard strong gasps coming from that general location, so she picked up her pace. She didn't know what to expect. Was Konata dying? Was she hurt? Was she just playing a prank?

As she neared the tower of chairs, she tripped over something heavy. Kagami landed face-first on the ground, and felt blood rushing to her nose. It was then that she realized that she had a cut running down her left hand. Not only that, but her left leg had a small gash, and what appeared to be an indent the size of a pencil. She grimaced in the pain of her nose and limbs, and looked back to see what tripped her.

At first, it looked like an oversized rock, but as Kagami's eyes grew more adjusted to the dark, she noticed that the rock had feet. Desperately, she crawled towards the object, and quickly flinched backwards. The rock was definitely a man, but it was quite obvious the man wasn't alive. His eyes appeared to be ripped open, nothing more than blood and a strange yellowish liquid. His ears were literally exploded, nothing more than thin specks.

Kagami couldn't help it. She quickly arched her back and threw up all over the man. It was definitely by accident, but she couldn't help it at all. _Respect for the dead, Kagami. C'mon, you're better than that!_

Her thoughts were interrupted by a groan from the tower. Kagami averted her eyes away from the man, and tried to get his picture out of her mind. It was horrible, how a person could die like that, and then have puke all over them. Kagami had to hold her stomach as she crawled over the bodies, trying to not look directly at them as she wiped her bloody nose.

Once she reached the tower, she quickly noticed Konata's body, trying to stand, but obviously failing to do so. Kagami tried not to, but she ended up grinning. But then Konata saw her, and quickly smiled.

"Kagami! Please help me, I-I can't stand for some reason," Konata said rather nonchalantly. Kagami couldn't believe it. She never thought of seeing the day where Konata needed help that had nothing to do with homework. It was quite amusing for Kagami.

_I don't know if I should laugh or help! Sorry, Konata._

She quickly ran to her little friend's side, trying to figure out the problem. The only logical reason at the moment was Konata's leg, which looked pretty beaten up. However, on closer inspection, there was a hand holding Konata down.

"Konata, someone's holding you down," Kagami said. She was impressed to find that she sounded rather professional at the moment. Still, the arm was colored palely, bouncing off against the blue-tinted lighting. Kagami stuttered for a second then reached for the arm. Once she touched it, she felt a shiver run down her spine.

It was too cold.

Carefully, she removed the hand from Konata's foot, and attempted to lift Konata up.

"Ah, careful, careful…" Konata said, feeling a sudden rush of pain as Kagami lifted her up off the ground. Kagami knew that Konata wasn't really heavy, but at the moment, it felt like Konata weighed a ton. For some reason, any energy that Kagami once had was now completely sapped from her body. It felt like she just did thousands of exercise, and not one of them paid off.

Once Konata was back on her feet, Kagami tried to find a seat for; however, unbeknownst to her, the tower was made entirely of chairs, so none existed on the floor anymore. Trying to fight the pain in her arms and locate another area, she heard rustling behind her.

"Kagami, look," Konata said, waving her index finger in front of both of them. Kagami tried to figure out what Konata was pointing at, but it was too dark for her to see anything. However, she had to admit, there was some movement in the endless darkness.

Konata was pointing at all of them. At first, it was one, than three stood up, then 10, than 20. Soon enough, half of the bodies stood up, most shaking their heads, others stumbling around, trying to find their way.

"What do we do?" Kagami asked. She felt embarrassed to be asking Konata for guidance. It was like role reversal. However, as she pondered this, a booming voice that sounded familiar filled the room.

"Ugh, is everyone alright? I need a light…" the voice said. Kagami was surprised. Kyon was still speaking, even after the incident. Unlike Konata, Kagami remembered the incident clearly. She was one of the lucky ones who didn't get flung around or bleed from the ears or eyes. Yet Kyon was right next to the machine, almost inside of it. Shouldn't he have been affected by the incident more? Shouldn't he be dead?

As she wondered, a small flame flicked on, emitting the whole room into a strange orangish-glow. It was a lot better than only being able to see just a couple of feet in front of you. However, many in the crowd looked afraid, as Kagami started to count how many were up. She was relieved that there were others. Then again, should she? Maybe this is all a dream.

But as she studied the people awake, she noticed the ones still lying down. Kagami couldn't help but place her hand in front of her mouth. The whole ground was littered with people who suffered the same fate as the man Kagami stumbled upon earlier. Many were spiraled on the floor, bathed in their own blood, limbs torn away. Some even didn't have heads, which scared Kagami even more.

"Hey, Kagamin, what's that dripping down?" Konata said, now pointing her finger towards the ceiling. Kagami sighed in relief, since she didn't have to look at the dead bodies. However, the roof was even worse. Kids of all grades littered the roof, stuck on the tiles. Most were impaled by the equipment from the science fair. However, some actually were melted into the roof, or at least that's what it looked like according to Kagami's perspective. One body seemed to be released from the roof, and it crash landed onto a table, breaking it in half, making the kids around it jump away.

Konata looked at Kagami's face and had to smirk. However, as if having a sixth sense, Kagami looked over her shoulder and saw Konata's big grin.

"Boy, Kagamin's scared face looks so cute!" Konata said, using her free hand to cover her oddly-shaped mouth. Kagami grew infuriated.

"Dammit, Konata, do you really think this is the time to joke around?" Kagami asked, almost blowing fire from her mouth. Konata flinched back from the tsundere's sudden outburst.

"Hey Kagamin, it doesn't matter. This is probably just all a dream," Konata said, quickly bringing back her grin. Kagami looked at her uneasily. She already wondered if this was all a dream, but she couldn't really see that happening. Then again, she couldn't see this whole situation being a reality either.

As she thought, Kyon continued on with his speech. "Alright everyone, it appears we are in a horrible predicament," he started. Without warning, a book shot towards him. Kyon was lucky to have dodged it, but he wasn't looking very happy. At the angle he was in now, Kagami saw that Kyon was indeed injured. His blazer was torn apart, with the sleeves completely gone. But that wasn't the worst of it. No, the worst was his hand.

He was missing his right hand. Blood was slowly twinkling out.

As Kagami looked at the hurt student, she looked back at the people. All of them were scared, some looking at the ground or the ceiling in disgust. Some bodies on the floor started to wake. However, the number of dead bodies greatly outnumbered those of the living.

It was then that Kagami realized that three-fourths of the students in Ryoo high were dead.

_Ayano_

Unlike everyone else, Ayano was well awake throughout the incident. She witnessed the blinding light, the odd humming sound, and the blackout. However, the blackout for her was the electricity going out. For ten hours, she stood in the bathroom, crying to herself in the dark. It was one thing that strange things happened, but being afraid of the dark was horrible in this situation. For ten hours, the bathroom was hell black, with no visible light. For ten hours, Ayano had to be careful not to have a heart attack.

_What was that? Bloody Mary, bloody Mary. Did I see something move? God damn, please someone, come in here! Dear god, I don't want to die!_

As thoughts raced through her mind, she kept seeing shadows in the dark mysteriously hop around. It was this that rooted her to the bathroom, instead of her trying to make it to the door. She was worried that school ended, and that she was the only one in the whole building. The school was enormous compared to other high schools, so getting lost would be a horrible thing. Ayano was now regretting the fact that she didn't stay with Misao. She was probably disappointed in her.

But in order to get these answers, Ayano had to do one thing: get out of the bathroom.

"C'mon, girl, you could do this," Ayano said to herself, trying to pick up her spirit. However, she soon heard murmurs out in the halls. Believing them to be ghosts, Ayano stood still for just a couple of seconds. The voices sounded like arguing.

She knew some of the voices.

Sighing, Ayano slowly crept towards the door.

One…

Two…

Three…

She stopped for just a moment when she heard a foot fall next to her. She waited for a moment before assuming that it was just an echo.

Four…

Five…

At her fifth step, she accidentally bumped into the wooden door. Even though it did hurt, she was rather pleased that she walked in the right direction. She thought that she would hit a wall.

As she slowly turned the knob, she heard the voices growing more loudly. In just a couple of seconds, she'll be back with the others. But once she set her foot outside the bathroom, the darkness outside brushed against her, and she froze. Unlike the darkness in the bathroom, this darkness was more empty and lifeless. Like Kagami, she could easily tell the difference. However, unlike Kagami, she was petrified by its unwelcomeness. The eerie atmosphere enveloped her, and her whole body shook. As she peered down the halls, she still heard the voices. So, she decided to try to calm herself down. She slowly took deep breaths, each one three seconds apart. Once she reached her fifth deep breath, she was about to continue walking when…

Down one end of the hallway, a strange light was coming down the hall. Ayano noticed it, and literally froze up. The light appeared to be shining on her, and at first, she assumed that it was going to help her. Then…

On instinct, Ayano picked up her speed, and almost ran faster than the speed of light. The light wasn't following her. Rather, it stood in place, just ignoring her. Ayano didn't care if it was going to give chase or not. Getting out of here was her top priority. How far she was running, where she was even going, none of that mattered. Her mind was overrun by fear.

As the people in the gymnasium talked with Kyon, they were interrupted by a high-pitched scream, coming from one of the doors leading to one of the hallways. Everyone, including Kyon, had to look to see what the commotion was. What they saw was a terrified girl, pushing the doors away, running at top speed, before finally crash-landing into an over-turned table. Kids of all ages ran to her aid. However, one of them beat everyone else to her, shielding her from the rest. Ayano was too winded to even care about where she was. She was glad that the room was illuminated, though she was still scared from the bouncing shadows made by the flame.

"Back off, she's scared," Ayano heard. She didn't recognize the voice, but it did sound like she heard it before. But her eyesight was too foggy for her to check. She was shaken all over, and she felt like the light was still on her.

Almost all of the people backed away from the person. The only one who stayed there was Kyon.

"Ayano, right? Where did you come from? Was there anyone else?" Kyon demanded. Ayano slowly tilted her head towards Kyon, wondering what he meant. At the moment, it looked like everyone was there.

Then she saw the dead bodies scattered around.

Ayano turned pale, and quietly passed out. Her fear escalated too far, and she just couldn't stay conscious. The person tried to shake her awake, but Ayano was knocked out cold. The person glared at Kyon, and picked up Ayano.

"Hey, I was just asking!" Kyon yelled. Another book shot towards him. This time, Kyon couldn't dodge it, and was hit in the head. Everyone turned to look at thebook thrower. It was none other than Nagaru, who was dashing towards Kyon, waving his fist in the air.

"You fucking dumbshit! What the hell did you do? You better tell me where we are, or I'll rip your eyes and ears straight off your face!" Nagaru yelled, punching Kyon in the chest. Kyon staggered backwards, but was able to keep his balance.

"Nagaru, I believe that I can answer your question. Just give me time to get everyone here first!" Kyon yelled back. The crowd began to converse as Nagaru and Kyon yelled at each other.

As Konata and Kagami watched the two fight, they saw the person holding Ayano walking towards them. As the person walked into the light, the two saw that it was Minami; she wasn't really hurt, though she did have a cut running straight up her right leg, up to where her skirt ended. Her pantyhose were slightly torn where the cut was, but Minami didn't seem to care about the pain. She still showed no emotion as she carried the limp Ayano over her shoulder.

Resting her easy on the ground, Minami sat down, brushing a dead classmate away. She did look sad as she pushed him away, but it was only for a short moment. She looked at the two still standing, and said "She's fine, just scared." With that she looked down, examining her cut. Konata and Kagami didn't know what to do, so they walked over to where the crowd was.

_Misao_

Misao was startled when she awoke. Unlike everyone else, she wasn't in the gymnasium, or the hallways surrounding them. Instead, she was in the basement, drenched in sweat, lying down in the middle of a classroom. She found breathing to be very difficult. She wanted to move, but her body felt pressed down by something. She couldn't tell what was happening or where she was, since the uninviting darkness loomed over her.

"Help..." she cried, trying to sound out more words. Her throat was parched, and her lips were cut, making speaking very painful. Using the last amount of energy she had left, she forced herself to sit up, every muscle movement killing her. How long has she been out?

As she tried to cope with the pain, she attempted to study her surroundings, but all she saw was the darkness. The floor was tiled, but felt very dusty and dirty. There was a desk just a couple of meters away, but in the darkness, it looked like it was a mile away. Misao sighed and attempted to get up.

That was when she was attacked.

Misao groaned in pain as she fell to the floor face first. She felt blood dripping from her sailor suit, and she tried to figure out what happened.

Then it growled.

It sounded like a lion was in the same room, right behind here. _Behind her._She shook her head, and fought her muscles as she quickly got up, running straight-forward. However, she tripped over the same desk she saw, and once again landed on the floor, this time on her back. Pains soar through her as she landed on her cut. She screamed, hurting her lips even more. But the pain wasn't the reason why she screamed. What she saw scared her. The growling was loud and now sounded like a mixture between a lion, bear, bird, goat, and a human screech. What Misao saw was three dashes of light, resembling claws, aiming towards her. Without thinking, she quickly rolled to her right.

She heard the claws slashing the tile that she was just covering, ripping it out of the ground. Now Misao had enough adrenaline to get up and rush forward. The thing was now angrier, flinging objects all over the room, mostly chairs. Misao covered her head as she dashed forward, praying that the door was in front of her.

_Please god, let me live. I'll study more. I'll be nicer to everyone, including chibikko. Please, god, let me live!_

As she ran, dodging the flying objects, she ran straight into what she hoped for: a door. Quickly, she ran her hands over it, locating the knob. Oddly enough, the knob was in the middle. She quickly grabbed it and turned it to the right, right before a knife could hit her; she dashed out of the room and ran to the left. Why? There was a lantern sitting on top of a box. Misao quickly ran towards it and grabbed it. If she couldn't make it, at least she wanted to know what killed her.

As she stood in the light, the growling grew louder. Misao turned backwards and watched the light claws move around the glow of the fire. For some reason, it wouldn't enter the light. Still, even knowing that she was safe, Misao was on the verge of tears for being so scared. The claws danced around, and soon appeared to have given up. Soon, the claws vanished from sight, and the growling ceased. Misao took a deep breath, and tumbled to the ground in exhaustion.

As she faded into sleep, she still wondered what attacked her. Pain still soared throughout her body, but she didn't care anymore. All she cared about was going to sleep. As she nodded off to sleep, a man came towards her location, holding another lantern. As he was about to take the lantern off the box, he saw Misao sleeping on the ground, a little beaten up from her experience with a strange being.

"My god," he said. He looked around, and noticed that no one else was around. He shook his head for a second, and then he dashed back to where he came from, all while Misao slept. She was having a rather pleasant dream for the situation.

After a couple of seconds, the man came back, holding a pillow in one hand, the lantern in the other. He carefully put the lantern down, and lifted Misao's head. Gently, he placed the pillow under her head. Then, he checked the lantern on the box, making sure it had enough gas to stay lit. After confirming that it could last another 10 hours, he looked back at Misao.

"Sleep tight, my friend," he said. With that, he picked up his lantern and walked forward, leaving the sleeping Misao behind.

_Patricia_

Patricia wanted to participate in the fight so badly, but just couldn't do it. Not after what just happened. Did she cause this whole mess? It was hurting her head. Her sailor suit was tattered up, ripped at some parts, and parts were bloody. Her skirt wasn't really tampered with, but it was ruffled up. She sat at the podium, right next to the arch. It was where she woke up, and oddly enough, she wasn't really hurt, unlike Kyon, who didn't have two arms.

Seeing Nagaru and Kyon fighting reminded her of all the times everyone bullied Kyon. How childish they were, to throw him into lockers and into trash bins, and hurt him both mentally and physically, and for what? Was it because he was smarter than everyone else? Were they all jealous of him? Patricia was scared of it, for this incident, this nightmare, might not have been an accident. What if Kyon was getting them back for all the trouble they caused him? Patricia gulped.

At least, most of his bullies were dead.

At first the battle was a simple verbal battle, but then Nagaru did something that he usually did when no teachers were around; he football-tackled Kyon to the ground. Everyone backed off as the two fought. If it was a normal school day, then everyone would be chanting "Fight! Fight!" But now, as everyone began to slowly realize that most were dead, they were easily placed on edge. Patricia herself was scared.

"I'll kill you, you son of a bitch!" Nagaru swore at Kyon, clawing his face. Kyon groaned in pain, blood dripping down his once perfectly fine face. He was smart, but he was too weak to fight Nagaru, a boy who probably played in every sport ever made.

"Nagaru, get off! I can fix this!" Kyon tried to pry Nagaru off, but he was too heavy. His muscles were too much for Kyon's simplistic body. Nagaru started to punch Kyon square in the face, completely wrecking Kyon's face.

"Stop!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to face their principal. He was the first adult who spoke up. Patricia was quite startled to hear an older voice, and she looked around the gymnasium. She was quite surprised at how many adults were around. The school janitor was standing by a broken door, two teachers she didn't know sat on the floor, looking at the ground, and finally, her principal. Nagaru quickly got off of Kyon and sheepishly saluted his superior.

"Mr. Motchi. I'm sorry, but you know how it is! He probably caused all of this!" He said, trying to persuade his principal. The old man sighed, and shook his head.

"Nagaru, I'm sorry, but that is not an excuse to beat him up. You should-"

He stopped when he heard a strange clicking noise. Everyone heard it, but Patricia was the first to notice the clicking object. In his hands, Kyon held a revolver. How he got it was a mystery. How he got it passed security was a bigger mystery. But no matter what the case was, he was holding the revolver right at Nagaru. Nagaru nervously turned around and looked directly inside the gun. His heart stopped for a second.

"Kyon, put the gun down," Patricia said, finally participating. Kyon quickly turned and aimed the gun at Patricia. Nagaru saw this, and was ready to attack Kyon, but Patricia nodded to him, signaling that he shouldn't attack.

"Y-you know what? This is perfect, all perfect," Kyon began, walking towards the arch, now aiming the gun at the crowd. No one twitched a muscle. Kyon coughed and continued.

"You all hurt me, scared me, made my life a living hell! Well, come to think of it, this could be your punishment!" He yelled. His voice echoed throughout the room and down the halls, startling everyone, including Misao down in the basement. He began to laugh, creeping everyone out, as he stood inside the arch, eyeing Patricia.

"Now, you all might want to get out of here! Well, I didn't do anything to cause this. I believe Nagaru had something to do with it!" Kyon yelled, aiming the gun back at Nagru. Patricia was hiding in the corner of the podium, wondering if Kyon would shoot.

"Fuck you, Kyon! You made the machine! And besides, that brown haired chick, eh, Misao, pushed me into the arch. Blame her, not me!" Nagaru yelled, planting his feet on the ground. Kyon laughed sinisterly, making everyone cringe in their place.

"Oh well, in order to get back home, you have to fix the arch. However, I'm the only one who can. If I do it, I already know what my reward is. More torture, right? Well fuck off, Ryoo High, because from this day on, burn in hell!" Kyon yelled. As everyone tried to stop him, Kyon pulled the trigger on his head. His body fell limp down the stairs of the podium, flopping around, spilling all the red liquid from his body. He soon joined in with the other bodies spiraled out on the floor.

Patricia, along with everyone else, was stricken with silence. Kyon was dead. The kid who probably could've saved them from whatever was happening, was dead. Dead. It was such a strong word. Now that he lay on the floor, the word hurt everyone.

Perhaps, they will be dead as well.

Then Nagaru went on a rampage. He tore through the crowd, pushing everyone to the ground as he rushed to the main door of the gym that led back to the main hall of the whole school. No one knew why he ran there, but it doesn't matter anymore.

As everyone ran towards him, Nagaru pryed opened the big doors, cutting his hands in the process. Patricia ran through the crowd, trying to stop Nagaru.

"Nagaru, what are you doing?" Patricia asked. As the doors opened, Nagaru turned back to look at Patricia, about to say something.

Then the growls began.

Nagaru looked down the hallway, trying to figure out what made the noise. He looked back at the crowd, then back at the dark hall. The flame didn't reach this far, so the hall was completely void of light. Nagaru slowly entered the darkness, looking for the growling being.

"Heh, it's probably-"

Nagru was forcibly dragged to his feet. Everyone backed up.

"Ah, what the hell?"

Nagaru was tugged toward the darkness. Everyone was stuck in place. They didn't know what was happening, or why it was. All they could do is stare.

"God dammit, help me!" Nagaru yelled, trying to restrain getting pulled. However, he was getting tugged too hard, and half of his body was in the dark. Patricia regained her senses, and ran to Nagaru, pulling his hand.

The growling grew louder, now sounding mad.

"Oh go, it's biting me!" Nagaru shrieked. Patricia's eyes were wide opened. Nagaru's once tough face was now wimpy, and tears fell down his cheeks.

"Hang on! Somebody help me!" Patricia yelled. Out of the blue, Hiyori came to Patricai's side, and the two of them grabbed Nagaru's hands. Nagaru was screaming in agony as he was pulled further into the darkness. Everyone turned away, trying to ignore his screams. Patricia was confused why he was getting hurt. She peered to take a look at his legs, but she couldn't see anything.

Whatever growled was hurting Nagaru.

"Nagaru, fight back. We can't hold on!" Hiyori yelled, slipping as Nagaru was getting sucked into the dark. Nagaru's legs and abdomen were swallowed by the darkness. Only his head and arms were visible. He was crying now.

"Oh god, I don't want to die. Aughh!" Nagaru yelled. Before Patricia or Hiyori could do anything, Nagaru's hands were pried from Patricia and Hiyori's grasps. Nagaru was sucked into the darkness. Everyone screamed and tried to look into the darkness. Patricia and Hiyori looked deep down the hall, but the darkness made everything invisible.

Then Nagaru screamed. It wasn't the terrified scream most made. No, this was a shriek of pain, a shriek of dying. Everyone gulped. Then the body came flying from the shadows.

At first, no one could comprehend what happened, but then they observed the body. It was Nagaru, lying face-first on the floor. Well, half of his face. The whole top part of his head was gone, obliterated from his body. His legs were ripped to shreds, and his back was torn opened. Everyone soon suckered in the reality, and chaos ensued.

And all Patricia could do was cry.


	3. Prolouge 03

_Day 01_

_Ryoo High_

_Gymnasium_

_Circumstances_

_102 students remaining_

_5 adults remaining_

_Patricia_

As the tears ran down Patricia's delicate face, Hiyori tried to comfort her. However, screams filled the room, so any words she tried to speak were muted. Patricia looked down at the remains of Nagaru. In just five minutes, two of her classmates were dead; one by suicide, one by unknown circumstances (_It's always circumstances, isn't it?)_ Nagaru was lying right in front of her, half of his head torn off crudely. Brown still leaked from him, but he was almost out of the red liquid.

"Hiyori…" Patricia began. Hiyori looked at her, dodging a person who was running amuck. The whole scene was a disaster. Everyone ran, climbed up things, screaming. They all lost it. Patricia saw this, Hiyori saw this. Something had to be done, and fast.

"Let go of me. I need to do something," Patricia said, letting the tears slide down her cheeks. Hiyori didn't want to leave her friend, but Patricia seemed desperate. Hiyori nodded slightly and allowed Patricia to be freed from her grasp. Unlike Patricia and like Ayano, Hiyori wasn't really hurt. However, she was missing one lens for her glasses, which made her half-blind. As long as she didn't do anything stupid, she should be okay. Then again, attempting to help Nagaru was stupid enough, for she almost went with him into the darkness. That wouldn't have been pleasant.

Patricia walked smoothly towards the back of the arch, right to where Kyon's body rested. He was still clutching the gun with his only hand, with his index finger still resting on the trigger. His face still showed his smile of victory. He really wanted them all to die. It really got to Patricia, to see both Kyon and Nagaru die in front of her. Nagaru liked her, and she was kind of an acquaintance with Kyon, so she did have some relationships with the two. But, like the students rolled all over the ground and ceiling, they were dead.

And they weren't coming back.

Coughing from holding back her tears, Patricia pried the gun from Kyon's hands. She couldn't really tell, but she could've sworn that Kyon's mouth twitched. Seeing the bullet in his head made Patricia cringe, and she had to look away. God almighty, if that happened to her…

She carried the gun in her left hand, not putting it away. She was going to need it. Cautiously, she walked towards the bleachers on the right side of the gym. The adults moved over here, trying to command everyone to stop being afraid. Their tactics never worked anyways. Patricia cradled the gun in her hands as she walked up the stairs to the top row of bleachers.

Looking back, she watched in horror at the gym floor below. The whole area was filled with kids, alive and dead, crowded around. The living ones were running around like wild animals, and it disappointed Patricia so. Facing towards them, she aimed the gun towards the roof.

She shot the bullet. The sound of the gun recoil along with the sound-breaking bullet zipping through the air and resting inside a dead body startled everybody. Everyone stopped moving and slowly turned to face the American, holding the gun towards the room. The body that she accidentally shot fell down, getting beaten up by the metallic seats. No one seemed to care for that person, as all of their focus was planted on Patricia.

"Hmph, now that I got your attention, we have a problem on our hands. All I can say right now is that we have to survive. Something outside this room wants us dead, and we already saw what it can do with Na-Nagaru. However, that creature is not our biggest threat. Our biggest threat is us. If we can't get under control, were dead," Patricia said, giving one of her rare stern looks. Everyone nodded there heads, acting like everything they were just doing was forgotten. Kagami and Konata had to watch Patricia in awe, for it wasn't everyday that she acted like a world-class leader. They didn't really know what was going on through her saddened mind, but it didn't matter; she managed to get everybody quiet.

Patricia eyed her principal. "Sensei, do you or anyone else have a flashlight?" Patricia asked. The principal looked at her for a second, then seemed to have reached a conclusion. He began to search every square-inch of his suit, before finally pulling out a yellow-colored flashlight.

"Looks like I do. Patricia, what do you expect to do with this?" her principal asked. Patricia seemed to have grown a falty grin, something odd for a situation like this. She ran down the bleachers, grabbing the flashlight.

"I think we have to explore the school," Patricia asked, flicking the switch on the flashlight on and off. Immediately, eveyone began to argue with her. At this moment, all the superiority that Patricia just had was quickly removed from her mind. She was now scared of everyone yelling at her. Many waved their fists in the air in protest as the remaining adults tried to calm them down. Patricia didn't really know what to do. All she wanted was unity amongst the students. It was in a manga that she read, where similar events occurred; dead students, a strange monster, attempt at unity, it was all here. However, where the uniting worked in the manga, her chance failed miserably.

But then one soul came from the crowd of angry high-schoolers, walking like a saint.

"Um, I agree with Patricia."

Everyone that was yelling quickly switched their voices down to mute. All their heads turned in unison towards where the angelic voice came from. They looked in awe as the person walked up the bleachers towards Patricia, who was equally surprised as everyone else.

"Mi-Miyuki? At least one agrees with me…" Patricia murmured. Miyuki stood next to the american and politely looked at the students. Unlike everyone else, who had pale, grim expressions plastered all over their face, Miyuki's face was bright and charming, like she didn't see any of the bodies or even saw Nagaru getting dragged into the dark.

"Miyuki-san, are you crazy?"

"There's something out there!"

"Can't we just survive in here?"

As the students demanded answers, Miyuki kept her cool and looked at Patricia. "I think I got it from here," Miyuki said, not opening her eyes once. Once she did open them, however, Patricia was already back in the crowd. Miyuki didn't know why she did this.

Then again, nobody did.

_Miyuki_

"Please, everyone, let me finish," Miyuki sqaid, pushing her hands outwards towards the crowd. The students stopped their questions and stared intently at the angel in front of them. Even the principal and the remaining teachers stopped and stared, completely powerless in this situation. The janitor simple swept up the blood on the floor.

"What I've observed during Nagaru's…death, I noticed one thing. The thing that grabbed him didn't seem to enter the light. We never saw it try and grab Nagaru more in the upper body. It seems that that creature didn't want to enter the light. Patricia, is that what you were aiming at?" Miyuki asked. Patricia looked up and quickly said "yeah." In reality, she didn't even think about that.

However, one boy stood against Miyuki, and walked forward up the bleachers. "Miyuki, I know you're the smartest one, but how do you plan on proving it?" the boy asked. Miyuki looked down at her feet, looking rather embarrassed.

"I'll go out and prove it."

Everyone backed up, looking scared for her. People began to argue once more, when the principal walked up to Miyuki.

"Miyuki, I understand your reasonings, but I'll go. I can't put a studetn ahead of danger," her principal said, smiling. Miyuki looked up at him with shock. She thought that she was going out alone. In truth, she was petrified about it, but she couldn't alarm her fellow students.

"Patricia, may I see my flashlight?" he asked, looking down at patricia. Startled, Patricia ran up to him, saluted him, gave him the flashlight, than ran back to the crowd. She was scared after seeing Nagaru die right in front of her, but like Miyuki, she couldn't admit it.

As the principal walked down the aisle of bleachers, every student and adult moved back, staying away from the man who was probably about to die right in front of them. He walked passed the remains of Nagaru's body and opened up the door. He looked back at his students and smiled. With that, he walked out.

It was the last smile he would ever give.

While everyone stayed back, Miyuki and Patricia walked towards the door, watching the bobbing of the flashlight's light moving around. Their principal was making it pretty far, and while his back was shaded in the darkness, they still saw his sihoulette moving down the hall. Occasionally, he looked down at what appeared to be buldges in the ground, then he went back to looking straight forward.

That was when he tripped.

No one knew what he tripped on, but whatever it was, he fell straight to the floor, the flashlight rolling down the hall. The principal laid motionless for a couple of seconds, making everyone hold their breath.

Then the growls started again.

Resembling a deep-voiced dog, everyone had chills running down their spines as the principal quickly got up. As he dived for the light, people saw his sihoulette being carried away. They heard slashing and screaming, making everybodies heart stop. The slashing, growling and screaming continued for a moment, but then the principal reached the light, and violently aimed his gun behind him.

Now the monster began to scream. His flashlight was bobbing up and down vigorously, so no one saw the creature. However, the growling ceased, and soon became distant as it walked down the hall (_was walking the right word?)_ The principal stood up, and he began to walk back to the gym. At first, no one could see what was wrong with him, but as he walked back into the orange-lighted gymnasium, everyone saw the horror that was their principal.

He fell to the ground, and everyone saw the tears running down his back, showing off nothing but blood, ripped flesh, and even parts of his skeleton. His face was filled with what appeared to be holes, with blood leaking through each one. His eyes were coated in a blueish color, and his mouth was white. His belly was partially ripped opened, with small amounts of blood leaking through. Oddly enough, he had no damage on his limbs.

His bleeding body made everyone cringe and back off, but Patricia and Miyuki ran to his side. "Sensei…" Miyuki tried to say. Their principal slowly tilted his head towards her, and he made a weak smile.

"Your plan worked. It hated the light…" he said, groaning in pain. Miyuki was semi-relieved that her plan did work, but that feeling was overshadowed by seeing him in pain. She wanted to say something to him, but Patricia intervened.

"Sensei, did you see what attacked you?" Patricia asked desperately. Her principal started to cough, and blood began to leak from his mouth.

"The…d…d…," he began to say, before the coughing took over. He was coughing vigorously, and before Miyuki could try anything, the old man was dead. All the color from his body was faded away, and all that was left was a ripped up shell.

A feeling of sorrow filled everyone in the room, making everyone silent. The janitor himself stopped what he was doing and looked to the floor; the janitor and the principal worked at the school for years, becoming friends in the process. Miyuki couldn't say anything, and started to have tears running down her eyes. Patrici looked at the crowd in her sorrow face and stood back up.

"Alright, who wants to go out next?" she asked.

_Misao_

Misao awoke sometime an hour later. Her dream was actually pretty pleasant, compared to the incident she was just put through. Her dream showed her graduating from high school, leaving with Kagami and Ayano, then growing up to be a successful billionare. _Yeah, this is the life,_ her mind said as she slept. But as soon as the dreams came, reality quickly shook her awake.

At first, all she saw was the aura of light, and the darkness surrounding it. She had forgotten where she was at first, so the darkness did indeed frighten her, but not by much.

Then the pain kicked in from her back. She started to rub her back, and turned pale when she felt three slash marks running down her sailor uniform. Finally, the memories came back to her. The science fair incident, waking up in a strange classroom, the endless darkness, getting attacked by an unidentified creature, and finally ending up here with the lantern. She didn't notice it before, but the lantern was an electronic one, so instead of showcasing an orange glow, there was a bluish-white glow in its place. Misao was awed by the spectacular light bouncing against the dark, but then her emotions flooded her mind. As quickly as she felt awed, she soon became depressed.

For the first time in ten years, she felt very alone. The only other time she felt like this was when her parents left her alone in the house to go shopping, and the power shut off. For two hours, Misao stayed home with no noise at all, and since it was night, she sat alone in the dark. She was feeling exactly the same as she did back then. Usually in the school, the generator was running, so even if nobody was around, there was always a humming noise in the background. But now the generator was off, and no noise was being made, so it was only Misao and the darkness that were in the room.

That was when she cried. It has been awhile since she last cried. Maybe it was when she hurt her leg for the first time, or when her grandmother was killed by something unknown, but none of it mattered anymore. She hugged her knees and cried softly to herself.

"Oh god, why am I here? I already said I was sorry! Please, I just want to go home…"

As she cried to herself, she had the sudden feeling of paranoia. She quickly lifted her head up to see another aura looming next to the lantern. She gently lifted her head to see a person standing in the aura. For just a few seconds, she was speechless, for the person looked oddly familiar.

"Ch-chibikko?" Misao asked. Indeed, the person looked like Konata, except there was one distinguishing feature; she wasn't holding any light source. No, she was emitting light from her body. Misao was shaken by her surprise. Konata was the last person she wanted to see alone, but after getting attacked by god knows what, she didn't care if the devil showed up.

But then the Konata-looking person began to walk away. "Hey, wait!" Misao yelled. She quickly grabbed the lantern and followed her. She had a sudden impulse that the lantern kept the monster away, for the time she slept, she wasn't attacked by anything. She began to walk forward, limping as her back sent signals of pain throughout her body. Her nose was bleeding, though not as profusely as it was when she was first attacked. Some of her teeth were cracked, and though her mind screamed at her to stop moving, she ignored it.

As she limped on down the hall, the Konata-looking person simply drifted away, only waving at the limping girl. The light around her grew fainter and fainter, and the hallway seemed to have gone on forever. No matter how fast she was going, the person drifted quicker.

"Please stop-"

Misao felt the world shake around her as the lantern was thrown from her hand. The next thing she knew, she was crash-landing onto the floor, right onto her back. Her ankle now stung. Misao let out a loud groan, and reached for her foot. Then she realized something was wrong. Her lantern wasn't in her hand anymore, and she wasn't enveloped in the aura anymore.

"Oh shit," Misao muttered. Looking back, she saw the lantern. All she had to do was get into the aura. However, one problem persisted; her ankle was hurt, and she didn't know how severely.

And that's when the monster appeared.

The growls were silent at first, then they gradually began to grow louder and louder, to the point where they sounded like they were looming over her shoulder. Misao gulped in fear, fighting off the pain. She looked at the lantern, and began to leap for it. As the aura filled her hands, she felt a tugging sensation on her leg and under protest, she was dragged away. She clawed at the floor, but her spirit just wasn't strong enough, and she was tugged away into the darkness.

She looked up to see the three claws, preparing to dive into her. The monster growled bloodcurdling, almost sounding like it was laughing at her ignorance. Her eyes prepared to close on impact, and her life started to appear before her.

At first, it was her mother, cooking what appeared to be a cake. Then her younger brother Potemkin appeared, annoying her by laughing without making noise. And finally, at the climax, her father appeared, holding a gun.

_Dad? _ Misao thought to herself. As the claws came hailing down, she heard the gunshots echo off the darkness. The laughing of the monster turned into shrieks of terror as the bullets punctured its skin. As Misao came back into reality, a strange liquid dripped onto her face, making her grimace. The liquid was definitely not water, as the sticky substance dripped into her mouth, and she did taste it. She immediately coughed it up, and started to crawl backwards, when she remembered the monster. Its shrieks were still heard, but they grew faint as it fled down the hall, leaving her alone.

She quickly crawled back to her lantern, screaming with each step as her ankle ached. "Great, one more injury, and I'm good as dead," she said out loud. As she grabbed the lantern, she touched her face one more time, feeling the sticky red substance. She knew it was blood, right at the moment she tasted it. However, there was one thing off about it.

It tasted pretty good.

_God, I hope it's just because I'm hungry,_ Misao thought, as she sat down to rest her leg. Then another thought came to her mind. No, two thoughts: Where did that Konata-looking person go, and who shot that monster? She gripped the lantern and looked towards the direction of the shooter.

"Why me?" Misao whispered to herself, looking out into the endless void of black.

_Tsukasa_

After Patricia spoke her question, everyone backed away from her. Most started to believe that she was going mad; after seeing their principal dying from whatever lived in the dark, most thought that she would dismiss the plan. But right now, Patricia and even Miyuki looked serious.

"Listen, we have to go out there. Yes, he's now dead, but he told us that our plan worked. Whatever resides out there hates the light. Now, if one of us goes out there, there will be less chance of survival, but if more came, then we could make through the halls!" Patricia said, slamming her fist into the air. Still, everyone looked ashamed for her. Well, almost everyone.

"I'll go," Tsukasa said, raising her hand high up into the air. She had a look of concern on her face, and it was easy to tell that she was scared about the situation. Everyone looked at the younger Hiiragi sister, shocked at her braveness. Tsukasa walked forward ahead of everyone and stood next to Patricia, facing the crowd.

Kagami saw her sister walking towards Patricia, and was about to run in her direction, when Konata grabbed her arm. "What are you doing? If Tsukasa wants to go, let her go," Konata said, waving her free hand's finger around. Kagami's cheeks puffed up.

"It's not that, it's just that I can't lose her. I already seen enough dead kids, and I can't lose my sister. So, I'm going with her," Kagami said. Prying her hand from Konata's grasp, she scurried towards Patricia and her sister. Konata wanted to smile, but now felt worried. She at first thought that this was all a dream, but now she wondered if it wasn't. Was all of this actually happening around her? If it was, Kagami could be in danger. Konata attempted to stand, surprisingly succeeding, and began to limp towards them as well.

Tsukasa was shaken over what she was about to do. Why she volunteered was a mystery to both her and everyone else; maybe because she didn't want to fear the dark anymore, or she might've wanted to showcase how brave she really was; maybe she was just insane. Either way, there was no turning back. Then she saw her sister and Konata walking towards them.

"O-Onee-chan…Kona-chan?" Tsukasa asked in bewilderment. Patricia looked over at them and smiled. Tsukasa knew Patricia was more confident, but she didn't feel any better, even if her sister came along. Still, she tried to look confident in front of her. Looking bad might end her somehow, and she froze when she thought about it. She looked at her sister, who looked equally as worried as she was.

"Onee-chan, you don't have to come because I'm going," Tsukasa said. If anything, she wanted Kagami to stay behind, for she knew that her sister was smarter than her. She teared up from the thought, as she put herself as being a useless waste of space. But if the remaining students could keep all the smart people alive, there might be a chance of surviving. If Tsukasa died, nothing bad could result from it.

"I'm sorry, Tsukasa, but I'm going with you. If you die out there, I don't know what I would do," Kagami said, shaking her head in disappointment. Tsukasa sighed, and looked at Konata. All she did was give a thumb up to her. For some reason, Konata's hand expression made Tsukasa more lax. It was strange, but Tsukasa was glad that she was calming down in her mind.

Patricia looked at the rest of the crowd. "Anyone else want to volunteer?" Patricia asked, eying everyone standing nearby. One boy began to walk forward, and then stopped. He pointed his finger at her.

"I'll go if you tell me one thing" the boy began. He waited for Patricia's reaction, who just nodded. The boy took a deep breath and continued. "If were going out there to risk our lives, we need to know why were going. We can't just go out to scan the school! Most of us know what the school looks like, anyway. We need another reason!" the boy yelled. The crowd began to agree, and started to shower questions onto Patricia. Before she could even think, Konata bumped into the conversation.

"I'll give you another reason. God knows how long we're going to be trapped here, so we need two things: food and water. I know the cafeteria is near the gym, so it shouldn't be far. All we need to do is get there and get any food we can find. Will get water as well if we find it; that's why we need more volunteers," Konata said, placing her hands on her hips. Tsukasa was rather shocked at the bold statement Konata made, but she bottled up her feelings inside, not wanting to say anything or protest.

The boy stood still for a moment, but then started to go towards Patricia and the gang. Then two more boys walked up to them. With the added boys, there were now seven kids in the group that might never return to the light of the gym. Miyuki, who was still crouched down next to the dead principal, said: "I'll go as well" Miyuki said. However, before she could stand up, Patricia held her hand in front of Miyuki's face.

"I'm sorry Miyuki, but you can't come with us. We can't risk your life. You're too valuable to us," Patricia said. Miyuki looked puzzled, but then realized what she meant. She went back to looking at her dead principal. Tsukasa knew what Patricia was saying; did she read her mind or something?

Just then, the janitor came out of the crowd, holding what appeared to be a toolbox. "Here, take them," he said. He laid the box down on the ground, and gently opened the top. Inside the case were flashlights, at least ten in all. Everybody's eyes were glued to the flashlights like they were treasure. Patricia and Tsukasa walked up to the box, and each took a couple, six in total. Now everyone had a flashlight for the expedition outside. Tsukasa looked at the Janitor. She never really looked at the man. All she ever thought of him was that he was a scary, mean old man who wants nothing more than to kill everyone in the school. He pulled off the creepy, old man look pretty well, and he was always quiet. However, to everyone's surprise, he was helping them out. Tsukasa bowed toward the janitor.

"Thank you," she said, and she ran back to everyone else. Everyone else in their little crowd was looking at everyone else, who all looked worried. Patricia put her thumb straight up into the air. "Don't worry, fellow peers, we'll be back with food!" Patricia yelled, back in her old persona of being highly-eccentric. Everyone seemed to have loosened their tense muscles, but Tsukasa still felt a little scared. Going out there with the risk of dying got to her badly, and she hoped that no one else got hurt. _Why am I so selfless all of a sudden?_ Tsukasa thought to herself.

But it was too late to think about it, for Patricia opened the door, looking out into the killing darkness. The same hallway where both Nagaru and their principal met their fate was looking straight at them. With a big gulp from everyone, the tiny group walked into the dark, turning on their flashlights.

The worse was yet to come.

_Konata_

The darkness quickly enveloped them, leaving only their silhouettes and the rays from the flashlights. No one heard any noise in the dark, but they all felt a strange presence on their shoulders. No one knew what it was, but it all gave them bad Goosebumps. It was as if the dark was taunting them without even speaking. They tried to shrug the feeling, but it never left them. No matter where they went, the darkness always surrounded them.

For Konata, the dark was rather…healing. Once she stepped into the dark, her leg, which felt horrible not so long ago, was now feeling like it was never hurt in the first place. She was quite happy about it, but at the same time worried about it. She remembered reading a manga where something like this happened. She couldn't remember it hook line and sinker, but she could remember the basic summary. The person was hurt horribly during a fight, and couldn't use his legs anymore. However, once he entered a dark room, he regained all feeling. Sadly, he didn't survive the whole manga.

Wait, was it a manga?

She didn't remember something so trivial, so she gave up on her thoughts and continued her expedition with everyone else. She always kept watch around her feet to make sure what she was feeling was actually true. The group continued on down the hall, passing the area where their principal was attacked, noting the area surrounding them. With the flick of their flashlights, they noticed that all of the walls were covered in a thin sheet of what appeared to be dust.

"Why is there so much dust? We couldn't have been asleep that long," Patricia muttered to herself. Konata did contemplate that fact to herself; why was there so much dust? She didn't know how long they slept, but she knew for a fact that it couldn't have been more than a day. That wouldn't make the least bit of sense. Then again, looking at the walls, they still looked pretty new. The walls were recently repainted, so the bloody red walls still had that red "ting" to it. Besides the dust, the walls seemed un-aged. Good god, what did happen?

As they walked down the hall, they finally reached their first intersection. The wall in front of them had a small display case facing them, showing off the trophies that the Ryoo soccer team received over the years. So far, only 12 were present, yet that didn't seem correct. Last time Konata checked (which wasn't recent,) there were at least 20 on display. What happened to the others? Even the top part of the wall, which held the school soccer team banner, hanging just above the display case, seemed a bit off. In big bold gold letters, it still said "RYOO TIGERS CHAMPIONSHIP XXI," same old, same old, but the whole banner seemed destroyed. What used to be a scalene triangle-type of banner was now just a ripped up mess, with only the letters seeming non-touched. It was odd, yes, but none of that mattered.

Did anything matter?

Konata looked down the path to the left. Since the hallway ended, the only other route was going left; the board wanted to add another hallway to the intersection, but it seemed like they never got around doing it. The only work done was the wall being morphed into a path-like entrance, and some boards supporting it up, but other than that, nothing much has been done to it. _Must have been a lost cause,_ Konata thought to herself, snickering over her school's failure.

As their flashlights bobbed up and down, looking through the darkness, the bodies scattered on the floor soon came to vision. Tsukasa placed her hand over her mouth. "Oh, not here too!" she said, ready to spew any minute. Kagami held her tight, making sure the flashlight was aiming forward at all times. Konata couldn't help but laugh. Sure, this was real life, but she read to many horror stories, watched too much, and even looked at too many pictures showcasing dead bodies to be overwhelmed with seeing the dead around her.

"Oh come on, Tsukasa, it's not that bad. Just think they're living the peaceful life in the land above," Konata said, sarcastically lifting her hands up into the air, chuckling at her own gesture. Kagami became irate quickly.

"Shut it, Konata! Tsukasa hates anything you like, so don't say for her to think like you do!" Kagami roared, aiming her light directly at Konata. Konata did flinch back in fright, but quickly retaliated with a smartass comeback.

"I'm sorry Kagami, but that angry face of yours…it's just so _kawaii_!" Konata said. Before she could react, Kagami slapped Konata in the face, making Konata drop her flashlight. It might've sounded like there was no big deal to it, but there was one problem: no one was aiming their lights at Konata. Quickly realizing the situation, Konata fumbled around the ground, looking for her fallen flashlight. In the back of her mind, she was quickly hoping that one of the people in her group would flash their light on her, but for some reason, none of them moved, and as Konata looked up at them, she notice something strange.

They were frozen. No, not frozen in terror; they're just frozen, none of them moving a muscle. It was one of the first times that Konata felt truly afraid about the whole ordeal. She looked at all of them, then quickly remembered that her flashlight was still somewhere on the floor. She had to find it before that "thing" attacks her. Everyone else aimed their lights up, so any cover with them was impossible.

As she felt the ground, she finally stumbled on a metallic-like object. _Oh, if this is an arm,_ Konata thought to herself. She picked up the object and fumbled it around in her hands. At this moment, she knew that it couldn't have been an arm; it was too chilly and "metallish." Turning it to its side, she found the bulge that was the switch. Flshing a smile of relief, she flicked the light on.

What she saw was quite surprising.

Stumbling back to the ground (this time still holding the flashlight,) she espied something that would petrify her for the rest of her time in this desolate land. Right in front of her, standing tall, wearing a white robe covering all of her body except the arms, sporting blue hair just like her, was her mother

"M-Mom?!" Konata shouted. It was only for a measly three seconds that she caught sight of her late mother. She knew that she was pretty and tiny just like her, but Konata never thought that she would be able to see her in real life. Her mother casually waved towards her, sporting a beam of light, stretching in every direction around her. Her smile was breathtaking.

But like I said, it only lasted three seconds. Once those seconds were up, her mom vanished from sight, leaving only a confused Konata and her little group. Everyone else in her party soon became unfrozen, wobbling around as their balance was thrown off during that time.

"God, what was that?" Patricia said. She looked at the Hiiragi's, then the boys who were willing to come, and finally at Konata, who was still on the ground in shock. Tsukasa walked up towards her, wavering around as her balance sill didn't come back to her.

"Kona-chan, are you okay?" Tsukasa asked her, before her elder sister dragged her away. Kagami was still angry at Konata, but did feel worried over her little friend's condition.

"Konata, what's wrong?" Kagami repeated. Her answer was a pretty shallow one. Konata's head tilted towards them, then quickly turned back, facing down the long, winding path in front of them. One of the boys walked up to her, wanting to comfort her. It was quite obvious why the boys came; four girls alone out in the dark, possibly being the jumpy types, it was male's fantasy to be in this situation.

Then again, the dead bodies and an actual monster wasn't part of the package.

As he neared her, a short, muffled sound filled the empty air, lasting for about a second. Everyone stopped moving, stopped breathing for a second, as the noise came back. It wasn't like the growling they heard before. No, this sounded more human. It sounded like…

A cry for help.

"Someone's over there!" Patricia said, pointing down the hall. They all stood still for a brief moment before finally hearing the confirmation that the cry was down the hall when they heard the voice again. Without hesitation, all of them ran down the hall towards the cry. It kept coming, getting louder and more audible. As they reached their next intersection, where one path leads up a flight of stairs and the other continuing down the hall. Contemplating on which path they should take, they heard the cry once more, coming down the hall.

"Please, dear god, help me!" the voice yelled. It was definitely coming down the hall. The person was probably stuck inside of a room and couldn't get out, so the group quickly scanned the perimeter of the hallway, checking each of the doors. The school board decided it was best to place a lock on every door, in case of any form of school shooting or invasions were to occur. Three weeks prior to the incident, two kids walked into Ryoo high holding semi-automatic rifles, with grenades tucked away in their pockets. They were about to open fire on the library, but were overrun by the teachers in the Library before they could open fire. It was strange how fate worked, for both Konata and Kagami were in the library at the time. They chose to ignore their feelings, but little did they know that those memories were coming back to them very quickly.

As the last doors came into view, Konata saw a door moving around, as if someone was trying to force it open. Konata's eyes widened and she looked back at her group. "I found the door, he's in here!" Konata said, pointing towards the moving door. Everyone turned to face the door, and quickly ran towards it. At first, nothing but dead air was heard. Then, two voices were shouting from a distance, along with a _cachunk _type of sound, as if a piece of wood just split in half. Banging on the door commenced once more, this time more vigorously. The door appeared to have been cracked along the edges, yet still didn't give in to the pounding.

"Anyone, please open the door! We-"

That was the last thing that voice said to them. Just as the three boys ran up to the door attempting to pry it open, a Loud _whooshing_ sound was heard beyond the almost-ajar door. For the first three seconds, the banging was still going; soon after, the banging ceased, and a muffled scream took its place. Patricia ran to the door where the boys were trying to open it. It was odd, really, how the door refused to open; there was nothing obscuring it from being pulled, nor was there anything wrong with the hinges itself. It was as if the door was part of the wall itself.

"Hang in there, we're getting you out!" Patricia yelled. Konata and the Hiiragi twins stood back, waiting for the door to open and allow peace to be brought back to them. Konata really needed it. Everyone really needed it.

And that was when the body smacked into the door. It caught everyone off guard. One of the people in the room was thrown into the door, leaving a full indent on the door. Yet, it was impossible, for the door was made of wood; making an indent showing a full silhouette of a person couldn't have happened.

Either way, it was there. The person in the room smacked against the door so hard that they made an indent of themselves. Everything (minus the hair of course) was pictured. The person's face was showing anguish and pain, and his eyes (somehow pictured) showed a plea for help. No matter what was possible, everyone screamed and tumbled down, with the person in the room screaming a shriek of pain and fear. Before anything could happen, the person was slammed into the door again, this time breaking through it. Everyone crawled back at the sight of the man. He was literally torn up; his ears were gone, nothing more than red ports, his eyes scratched and ripped apart, and his whole back being ripped off, showing off his rather disfigured spine. He was still screaming, squirting out blood from in-between his teeth and his ripped open tongue. If it wasn't a serious situation, Konata would've said that he looked like a freak show act. _Behold the ripped-up man! Being ripped is one thing, being ripped open is another!_

The man was trying to crawl out, but just couldn't do it. In a few moments, in the same position as he was in once he was slammed into the door, he was dead as a doorknob. Konata looked at his pale, sagging face. It was one thing to see a person die right in front of you, let alone being ripped-up in front of you, but it was completely different to see a person you knew die right in front of you. The boy was from her homeroom class. She couldn't remember his name right (_Shuya, right?_), but she knew that he had a crush on their sensei, Nanako Kuroi. That suddenly triggered a thought as she suddenly remembered her sensei. What Konata remembered was that she was in their homeroom still, crying over something…odd. Was she still alive? Were they still alive? Those questions ran through Konata's mind as she, along with Kagami checked inside the room, where there was supposedly another living soul. However, that person was gone too, nothing more than a blood stain on the wall and floor.

"We're too late," Kagami said, shaking her head in dubiety as she looked at her growing-paler sister. Tsukasa had about enough of seeing death, and all emotion was gone from her face. If you looked at her now, she looked like a ghost, nothing more than a little color and a body; other than that, nothing else.

"T-Tsukasa, if you want, you could head back," Kagami said. Tsukasa was easily scared over anything, even the most trivial things. However, Kagami never saw her with this expression. Something horrible happened to her mind. It was too unbearable to look at her. However, Tsukasa still shook her head horizontally, signifying that she didn't want to leave. Whatever horror ran in her mind was kicking in now, making her make decisions that seemed so out of character. Konata would've admitted that she was scared for Tsukasa, but seeing as how angry Kagami was with her at the moment, she kept her witty comment to herself.

As they walked up the staircase they passed before, they finally reached their destination. The café was abnormally big, where the walls seemed to extend pass the roof itself. It might be that the group never cared to look at how tall the building was, but then again, was this even their school, or something else? Hell, it looked like it, but comparing the facts between each, they seemed entirely different.

The group remained silent for the rest of their expedition, only talking when one of the boys found boxes, good for carrying any food and water the group found. All of the tables and chairs were turned on their sides, making the room hard to navigate around. Ashes were scattered about as well. However, whereas everyone else paid no heed to this addition, Konata began to realize something: the café was altered to appear like a battlefield. It was hard to tell due to the lack of light, but Konata was able to make it out easily. The tables were turned around for cover, and the chairs appeared to be simple nuisances for whoever fought here. Another thing that struck Konata odd was the fresh bullet holes in the tables. She could easily smell the gunpowder, and yes, it was still fresh. For Konata, that only meant one thing…

Someone was already here…

Konata looked at her friends. They seemed to have found a perfect stash of food, and were busy scavenging around the area. It made Konata chuckle over the fact that no one liked the school food, yet now everyone wants it. As she chuckled, deep down in her mind she cried. She saw her mom, something she thought would never happen. It was only for a brief moment, but to her, it lasted a lifetime.

Her mom, her sensei, her friends…

Any feeling that this was all a dream was now completely gone. She had a small glimmer of hope that she would wake up to be at home, eating dinner with her dad, Sojiro, watching some late night anime girls her age shouldn't watch, and peacefully going to bed. No, this wasn't a dream. This was real. Not only could she die here along with her fellow classmates, but she could also never see home again, see her father's smiling face, her cousin Yui's drunk eyes darting at her, her online game…

She can't die. She won't die.

As the thoughts raced through her mind, she was brought back from cloud nine by Patricia. "Konata-sempai, help us out here," she said loudly. Konata took a deep breath and walked over to the scavenge sight. Tsukasa handed her a box (displaying an ad for Osakan Milk) and Konata proceeded to pick anything off of the cold, dusty, ripped up floor.

And as she did this, the same thought that came to Misao suddenly came to her. "Why me," Konata said out loud. No one heard her except for the dead air.

And, of course, the man and women hiding in the closet heard them loud and clear.

_Yutaka_

After the group left the vicinity of the gym, Yutaka regrouped with Minami and the sleeping Ayano. Minami was very glad to see that Yutaka was alright and rather unscathed. Besides a small cut on her cheek, Yutaka was perfectly alright.

_Perfectly…_

"Minami-san, how is she doing?" Yutaka asked Minami in her worried tone. Minami looked down at the sleeping Ayano. She sweat a lot during the first few minutes of being asleep due to terror, but she quickly just fell into a regular sleep. Her clothes were still damp from the chemical from her body, but it wasn't entirely noticeable. Minami checked everywhere on Ayano.

"She's alright, just sleeping," Minami said. Yutaka breathed a sigh of relief. Ayano scared her when she came running into the gymnasium, and she feared for her semi-friends state of being. It wasn't everyday that someone goes running into a room full of the dead and passing out. By the way, what did Ayano see in the hallway? It was no joke that something lurked out in those unholy shadows, but there was one strange feeling coursing through Yutaka's frail body: that was out the other hallway, the one that lead to the café and stairwell leading to the upper floor. The other hallway was meant for two other classrooms along with two bathrooms and a small stairwell leading to the basement area. Whatever lurked out in that hallway had to be completely different from the creature in the main hall.

Right?

As Yutaka wondered about it, Minami took hold of her shoulder. "Are you okay?" she asked. Apparently, without notice, Yutaka was frowning, and her eyes were mysteriously watery. Why she was depressed and frowning was beyond even the small girl. She looked at her abnormally tall friend and smiled.

"No, I'm alright, Minami-san, just a little tired," Yutaka said whilst rubbing her eyes. Oddly, even after sleeping for god knows how long, she still felt like she hadn't fell asleep for a whole week. Her body begged her to sleep, but Yutaka was very worried over what might happen. Sure, there was a whole group of people here that could protect her, but what if something takes her in her slumber? In this world, anything's possible. Yutaka looked at everyone, and saw how astir they were. Most were sitting down, possibly speaking to their friends, while others appeared to have been mourning the dead bodies scattered around them. At the booth in the center of the gym, Miyuki and two others were examining the arch that brought them there.

But one group caught Yutaka as odd.

A person, cloaked by a shadow since the flame didn't reach that far, was talking to an ever-growing amount of people. There were at least ten students crowding the person. Yutaka couldn't hear the person clearly, but she did catch some words.

"Form…fight…Misao…capture…kill any…don't fear the…no…god…our…dead."

Yutaka wanted to run up to the group to listen, but Minami was holding her. Yutaka almost forgot Minami was right there. "Yutaka, if you want, you could go sleep," Minami said. Yutaka looked at her, straightening out her gaze on her friend.

"But, Minami-san, I'm…scared," Yutaka said. She couldn't hold in the tears anymore, and she started to slowly cry into Minami's chest.

"It's alright, Yutaka…"

Yutaka looked up at her friends face. Minami was oddly smiling, something she rarely did in everyday life.

"I'll protect you."

Yutaka opened her eyes wide once her friend said this, but for some reason, she couldn't keep her head up. Drowsiness over took her, and she fell into a deep snooze. As her head fell onto Minami's knees, the doors opened up, and the small expedition came back.

Everyone jumped up from their seating position and ran up to examine the group, surprised that they actually survived. Both Yutaka and Minami stood in their same position as each fell asleep. The two remaining teachers sat alone as well, allowing the group of students to see the findings. It was always said in the official teacher handbook that the student came first (rule:84; page:19.)

_General_

After the group showed their findings, everyone was told by them to return to their posts. Everyone did as they were told, but no one could sit still; finding food and water was like god giving them a chance to survive. It was that low glimmer of hope that revived all of them. Somehow and someway, they might end up getting out of the school, and hopefully out of this demented nightmare.

But like Yutaka, a swoon of drowsiness inflicted all of the students and remaining adults. It was hard to explain, but it was as if someone was making them fall asleep. Before Konata or the Hiiragi's could sort out the food, they fell to the ground, sleeping along with the dead bodies. In less then an hour, the students and adults fell asleep for the first time in this desolate world. What was to happen to them? Was there anyone else in the school? Could they get out?

Most of the students will find out what questions will be answered, but some won't be as lucky. Some might see twilight, while others might never see light again. For the four friends, Konata, Tsukasa, Kagami, and Miyuki, their fates are tied with the rest of the school. For the other four, Hiyori, Patricia, Minami, and Yutaka, their fates are tied with whoever the leader is. For Ayano, her fate is tied with another. For Misao, well…

Best to leave some things a mystery, hm?

THE OTHER DIMENSION

_100 Students remaining_

_4 adults remaining _


	4. The Fear in Us All 1

**PART ONE:**

**THE FEAR IN US ALL**

_Day 02_

_Ryoo High_

_Gymnasium_

_Still circumstances_

_100 students remaining_

_4 adults remaining_

_Minami_

Awakening, Minami felt like she was hit by a bus. It was quite unusual how she awoke, for nothing stirred her awake, nor did she feel any more awake. It was like someone forced her awake. _Ugh, my head…, _Minami thought, rubbing her temples with her left palm. She looked around herself, and noticed that the gym was more illuminated than before. Looking around, breaking through her hazy vision, she saw more then three flames scattered across the canvas that was her gym. Strangely enough, with the added light, she began to notice some things that weren't present before.

For one, most of the bodies on the floor were gone, nothing more than their bloodstains left. There were still some scattered here and there, but other than that, the floor was more barren than before. She didn't know why, but she felt more alone than before. It was odd, since most of the people in the gym were dead.

The second thing she noticed was that the windows on the very top of the gym were slightly open, revealing a still ever present darkness; was that what the world is now? Everlasting darkness? As she watched, she noticed something falling from them. Squinting her eyes to see more clearly, she began to notice the liquid dripping rather promptly, falling straight from the open window. It wasn't like the liquid she saw before; no, it wasn't blood.

"R-rain?" Minami said softly and nonchalantly. It couldn't have been her eyes playing tricks on her, for it never faded away or get farther or closer. The water dropped vigorously down to Earth (_we are on Earth, right?_), spreading over one of the sleeping students. The student did flinch as each drop hit him directly, but he didn't wake up instantly. Was he enjoying it? Minami was about to walk over to the water when she felt something heavy on her cold legs. Looking down, she noticed Yutaka had her head on her knees, sleeping calmly. Minami almost forgot that she comforted her before they all fell asleep. She sighed, as she could only sit and wait for everyone else to awaken before she could do a single thing.

As she stared at the window, she heard a shuffle nearby. Looking behind her, she noticed someone walking around on the bleachers, checking under each one, occasionally looking up at the roof, possibly looking for bodies. What were they doing? Minami wanted to ask her a lot, but the Yutaka problem came back to her senses, so she kept her mouth shut. The person only looked at the bleachers, so they had their back to Minami, but that still didn't change the fear brewing in Minami's mind. She didn't know who the person was, but she found it slightly suspicious that this person was the only awake, after herself.

That was when the person looked towards Minami. Minami froze, her eyes growing rather huge as she slowly brought her hands to guard Yutaka's head. The person was still too far in the shadows to be clearly identified, but Minami knew that the silhouette belonged to a girl, relatively her age. As scared as Minami was, she knew that it had to be a student, probably scared more than she is right now. However, Minami's opinion changed hastily when the girl walked towards her. Getting ready to defend Yutaka along with herself, she shielded her little friends head with one arm, and grabbed an object off the floor with the other. If the person was going to attack them, then Minami had to fight back.

That was when the person entered the flame's guiding yet mystical light, revealing their facial features along with stature. The girl was feeble, though appeared to be strong in a certain sense; glasses covered her eyes, which too were blocked by her long, flowing black hair. She looked worried, yet at the same time a little bit happy. Minami knew who she was, but was too filled with shock to say anything. Even after finding out who they were, she still felt a little afraid. Why was she the only one awake and active? Was she responsible for the clean-up of the bodies? It was surprising to Minami that she could've probably performed such a feat, for a mass clean-up of bodies seemed to unrealistic.

"Minami?" the girl asked. Minami's muscles tensed up, and she had to focus her mind in order to get the horrid thoughts out of her mind. As she focused her sight on the dark-haired girl, she didn't fully feel the perspiration running down her features. She hadn't really realized anything; how she looked, if she was hurt, how dirty she was. It could've been that her hair was destroyed and everything else just covered in dirt, covered by a dry rag that used to be her sailor-suit. Then again, she could've been unscathed, and be perfectly normal. Thinking it over and over, she almost forgot about the girl standing in front of her.

"Hiyori…how long have you been up?" Minami asked, deciding to rub her eyes. She didn't even realize that her eyes were hurting. Maybe it's just how the world is; whatever you don't realize won't kill you.

Hiyori crouched down next to her, adjusting her glasses. "For more than an hour, maybe; I felt nauseous once I awoke, and well, I just couldn't get back to sleeping," Hiyori said, scratching her check. Minami looked around at the semi-vacant floor.

"Did you move the bodies somewhere?" Minami asked. Hiyori nodded her head, patted the ground, and sat down, resting her hurt knee (from what Minami saw, her knee looked rather burnt, though she still walked perfectly normal.)

"I have. Took awhile, but I eventually got the side door open. Good to have some air in here, right?" Hiyori said, not mentioning at all how she moved the bodies out on her own. However, that raging question was blocked out of her mind for a moment, as she received another realization. Outside. She almost forgot that such a place existed, and it now seemed like a fairytale. If they could get outside, they could get out of here. Why didn't anyone realize that yet? It seemed like the perfect solution.

_Seemed…_

"Hiyori, what did it look like outside?" Minami said, almost jumping up before remembering that Yutaka was sleeping on her legs. God, if outside looked normal, they could escape the goddamn school. It was quite funny to Minami actually; to think that school was the worst place to be at this moment. Hiyori tilted her head, looked at the shadow that was the wall, and then looked back at her perplexed friend.

"Well, it was pretty dark, but it looked like the path to the field, like it always did. Am…am I missing something?" Hiyori asked in confusion. Minami placed her hands over her face. Even Hiyori didn't realize that they could escape. It was starting to appear hopeless for everyone if they couldn't see the plan.

That was when Hiyori jumped.

_Misao_

Sometime while she sat alone in the dark, Misao somehow dozed off, leaving only the light to protect her. Once she opened her golden eyes again, she started to wonder why she was so tired. However, due to her cluelessness, she never decided on an answer. However, it was probably because she was losing two things: blood and hope. Her back still had rather flesh wounds, and after her latest encounter with the "beast," she now had some cuts running up her leg, and her nose throbbed in pain. Worse, her ankle was sprained, so she couldn't cover much distance even if she wanted to. Either way, luck wasn't with her.

"Why couldn't this have been a dream?" Misao said aloud. She was on the verge of tears once more after seeing the looming darkness ahead of her. All those encounters that she had less than an hour ago (or what she thought was an hour ago) soon came flooding straight back to her. Those three dashes of light, the growling, the blood splashing over her face; there had to be a reason why she was here. Yes, there was a reason for everything, like why she went to school, or why chibikko always stole HER Hiiragi, so there was definitely a reason why she was here. Who knows, maybe her other friends were down here.

She only was in one room so far, and she currently sat alone in the hallway, but she knew that she was still in her school. She didn't see it at first, but after looking to the side of her, spread across the canvas, she noticed a "Ryoo High Rocks!" banner, so she was definitely in her school. After sitting down for awhile, she realized that she was, well, realizing hell of a lot more than she once did when everything was sane. Was she going insane? Was she already insane? Is she dead?

For one, she never realized how peaceful it was when nobody was around. Sure, she almost died sitting here in the dark, but for some reason, she felt rather lax sitting down instead of moving around. It could've been blood loss, but then again, it probably wasn't.

Secondly, she suddenly realized that she missed her family. Yeah, it's been only a couple of hours (days?) since she last saw them, but were they worried about her? Misao never really thought about her family this deeply, but it seemed that the dark opened up her mind in order for her to understand things more clearly. Her family could be worried about her. It wasn't everyday in Japan when your daughter simply vanishes. Was the entire school gone? Again, another racing thought.

But then again, she didn't believe her parents even loved her. No, not after last time. No, it wasn't something like they wouldn't allow her to get that new phone, or she couldn't see her friends; nothing trivial like those. Sadly, her family just…wasn't around. She never really had any experiences with them like her friends did with their parents, especially Konata's. They always seemed to have fun, yet Misao's parents never cared for fun. It was always work with them, and when work was finish, the booze came. The Kusakabe family was infamous for their disconcertion throughout all of Japan due to their drinking problems that did something "wrong" to the emperor once, but the Kusakabe never cared. Yet, as they drank and worked, they left their frail daughter behind in the cold. Yeah, she grew up regularly, smiling, being cheerful, and having friends. But then again, which is real, and which is just the disguise?

Before that one moment came to her mind, she was interrupted from a strange "pinging" sound. It was barely audible, but she could hear it off in the distance down the hallway. She shook her head. "No, I-I can't go!" Misao yelled aloud once more. Knowing how bad her ankle hurt, she just couldn't do it.

But then the monster came into her mind. What if it snuck up behind her and took her away? Her back was semi-exposed to the dark, so that creature could easily take her down right here, right now. Unless she moved…

Grimacing as she stood, she could miraculously stand with her hurt ankle, though it was pretty painful. Sadly, there was no sign of a cane-like object, so she was on her own now. She chuckled a little; feeling like nothing was going to side with her. How much bad luck can one person have?

As the hallway turned into a dead end, Misao looked around at her surroundings. Like Konata and her gang, she noticed that the halls were filthy, and required a lot of care and dusting. There were even small patches of rubble scattered about the oddly barren floor. What happened here, a war? Well, concerning that a creature that thrives in the dark resides here, that might be a possibility.

One of the paths, which probably was a stairwell, was blocked by a pile of rubble, and due to her condition, Misao couldn't even try to climb over it. She looked around, but only one other path remained for her to choose: the door. The door led into a double room that extended to the other side of the school. Beyond the wall that separated the two paths, there was another basement area, just below the café. God, why was her school so confusing?

Deciding there was nothing else to do, she limped toward the door, watching for the rocks on the ground. Having two broken ankles would be detrimental to her survival. Slowly, placing the lantern down on the floor, she opened the door. At first, her own shadow blocked what laid inside of it, but as what she could tell at first glance, It looked like the normal old room she went into almost everyday. It was the art room, so nothing could kill like that other room. Well, hopefully nothing could.

But as her shadow became smaller as the lantern was picked up from the ground, she soon saw what was in the room. The whole floor caved in, and water was filled inside. Small fragments of what used to be the tiled floor still floated around, but the rest of the floor was gone, replaced with the devil they called water. Worst of all, it appeared that the whole room was gone, meaning Misao was going to have to swim.

Misao fell to the ground on her back (pain filled her, but she simply ignored it), laughing out loud. "You got to be kidding me," she said smiling deviously.

God must've really hated her.

_Nanako_

She sat alone on that chair they supplied her. She never enjoyed sitting for more than an hour at school, always having to be standing and moving about whenever she taught. It was odd, since when she left, she usually stayed in a chair at her house, playing that online game. That silly game that she took for granted; now she lost in the dark, possibly never going to see it again.

She remembered the light very clearly, though she would've rather blocked it from her mind; just hearing that ringing in her ears made her feel unpleasant. It was strange how events played out, and how trivial things could stop such events, for before that light shined, Nanako was about to do something drastic and unfaithful. The noose still hung from the roof, though it was starting to tear a little. The box she was about to kick away was still there, yet now seemed more broken up, as though something was gnawing on it.

Sure, she had an apprehensive feeling in her stomach once she decided to do her plan, but yet she didn't care. What has life done for her? All she ever did was play games and teach, getting a low income (_Damn you, Kasukabe)_ everyday, barely enough to support her living standards. How she made it to 27 was unknown to her, but she didn't care; earlier that day she received the message from her boss; her stupid, hellish boss. He was planning on firing her by the end of the week, along with 20 other teachers due to budget reasons. How he could do such a thing to teachers who just want to make a living was, once more, confusing her.

It came as a shock, knowing that she couldn't survive without her weekly paycheck. She was still paying rent to keep her house, along with paying for everything else humans need. Once that paycheck was gone, she was screwed. How was she going to survive out in the cold? Knowing all of those "rapers" (that's what the media called them) are out there, she was going to get taken pretty quickly. Then again, isn't that what she wanted most? To be taken? She never had a serious relationship, even at her age, so she never discovered what true "romance" was.

But that didn't matter anymore. She was going to die right here, right now. Once all the students left her class to go to the fair (_Science fair, really?)_, she made the noose from spare rope she picked up before school. She didn't know how she got through going through a warehouse, buying the rope, and getting out without being questioned, but, once more, that didn't matter. She tied it around a hanging pole and picked up a box from her shelf. She never understood what was in the box, but someday, she might've needed it. Odd how she needed it in order to die, huh?

But as she was about to kick the box, the humming sound played, followed by the blinding light. The last thing Nanako remembered was a student of hers literally blowing up. If you looked at her now, Nanako's red suit was even more dark red, still damp with the students' blood.

When she awoke, she was on the floor, the right side of her head bleeding. She wasn't severely hurt, but Nanako never really experienced this type of pain before. She was always so careful with whatever she did. Yet the pain didn't bug her. It was the chilling fact that she was on the floor, and not hanging from the noose. Is she dead? Did she miraculously pull it off? No, that couldn't be right; she never kicked the box away. Then again, what was that light?

Now she sat on her chair, chuckling at the memory playing over in her head. It's been awhile since she experienced it, but it will forever scar her. Looking out the window, she noticed something strange. When she awoke, the sky was pitch black, bouncing against the walls like it was seeping through the glass. However, now looking at it again, it appeared that the sky was lighting up, and it was now raining, fogging up the windows a little. It was a pleasant sight to see light from outside the building for a change. Who knows, maybe it was just nighttime, against her theory that she was really dead. She started to laugh out loud once more, though a lot more sincere than Misao's laugh. That student she saw was still there, nothing but a bloodstain left. Nanako looked out into the hall; the lights appeared to not have turned on yet. She sighed. She wasn't leaving the building until the power returned. She never admitted it, but she was quite terrified of the dark, at least when she was alone. Still, she was glad about one thing…

The lights in her room were still on.

_Ayano_

Her dream was quite profound and, well, scary. It might've been because she was out in the dark for too long, but whatever the case was, she never had a dream quite like this. It played out slowly, letting the entire details sink in. Ayano had no choice but to experience it all.

_She was standing in the hallway outside of her classroom. While she was leaving to go to her next class, the rest of the hallway was barren, not a single student in sight. Since she was in a dream, she didn't pay any heed to it, and proceeded to walk down the stairs. This is where the dream got…odd. People slowly filled the hall, all looking at her, some snickering. Ayano looked around at them, not understanding why they were making such rude gestures towards her. She was never made fun of or laughed at in school before, so she was quite shocked at the sudden change in mood. She tried to speak, but her voice never came out. Only short wheezes came from her mouth, sounding like she had a bad cough the day before. This made the kids laugh even more._

_ The dream gets worse._

_ As she neared her next class, the teachers began to appear. Even they were laughing at her, though a bit out of sync with the other students. It all sounded like that alarm she heard when she was in the dark hall. That beeping noise still haunted her, invading her dreams now. They all progressively got louder, and then got quiet as soon as they were loud. Ayano placed her hands on her ears, though having to force one of her hands away from her head in order to open the door. The sooner she got out of here, the laughing would cease._

_ Hopefully._

_ Once she entered the class, she turned pale, and looked around the classroom. The seats were filled with students, that much was known, but none were moving. Some were slung over the desks like they were sleeping. Ayano pushed her books closer to her chest before proceeding to her seat. No one, not even her teacher even acknowledged her presence in the room. It was too quiet for Ayano. Sure, she was mostly quiet in school, but that didn't mean she liked silence. Maybe it was because she was typically hanging out with Misao, who was always loud. She never really experienced quietness because of her._

_ Misao…_

_ Just remembering her name brought tears to both her dream-self and real-self. She hasn't seen her for awhile. Yet she wasn't in her seat. Misao was rarely absent from school, this worried her quite a bit. Still, not to get yelled at by her sensei, she shuffled quickly to her desk, sat down, and pulled out her designated book for class. It was blurry in her dream, but she was able to tell what it was very quickly._

_ That was when she saw everyone else._

_ She literally fell from her seat, and scurried towards the wall, covering her mouth with her hands. Every student had terribly made scratches covering them. Most of their eyes were ripped out of their sockets, or at least torn up. Either way, most had no eyes, yet all aimed towards Ayano. Her eyes darted around the room, trying to see if anyone was moving; sadly, all was silent and still. Her eyes hazed up with tears as she buried her head in her knees, trying to get the painful picture out of her mind. _

_ As she cried alone, a man traversed into the room. He was tall, yet short at the same time. He had black, soulless eyes, yet still had blue eyes. He wore a traditional Hakama that was cut around his ankles, yet you couldn't see his feet. He was old, yet young._

_ Ayano slowly felt her muscles get tense and she was forced to look up. The picture in front of her was now different than the one she saw earlier. The room filled with her dead classmates was gone, and was replaced with a strange, tilted landscape. It was like a valley, filled with high-rising grass and sloping hills. The sky was an aqua type of color, but then again, so was everything else. That was what caught Ayano's attention first: the color. Even the sun was aqua, yet still shined brightly. Nothing was the right color; all was aqua. As she studied it, she noticed a slow-moving man coming towards her. He was still a couple of yards away, but Ayano could easily tell the red glow emitting from his eyes. It was the only thing colored, though she didn't know if the color was right. Where was she?_

_ Before she could protest or move, she was flung towards the man. It is impossible to reach terminal velocity in less than a second for humans, but Ayano reached said velocity in less than a millisecond. Ayano felt her hair falling off and her mouth bleeding, and she ended up screaming. However, her screams were muted by the current pulling her forward, so making any form of noise was practically useless. _

_ In less than a second, the man she saw a few yards off was now right in front of her, up to the point where she could feel his heavy breathing on her light face. His breath was warm, yet rancid, and it made Ayano want to choke. She refused to look up at the man's eyes, but she found herself immobile, leaving her to stare into his eyes. They were soulless, yet seemed to retain the aqua color like everything else. He grinned at her, and what Ayano thought was going to be a home for maggots, his teeth were rather clean and not disfigured at all. Besides his eyes, Ayano saw that the man looked rather pleasant. But all of those thought of pleasantness faded away from her mind as the man spoke to her. He never moved his mouth, but Ayano somehow heard him rather clearly._

_ "Soon."_

Now that she was awake, the terror was still in her mind. She wanted to scream, but her throat was too dry. All she could hope for was the dreadful memory to fade away.

Fade away…

As the seconds drew by, she began to hear voices calling from the distance, as though conversation was going on just next to her. Didn't this happen before? Her mind still didn't set in properly, but she did remember being in the bathroom, hearing distant voices in the background. However, this time she heard them clearly, and she wasn't enveloped in darkness anymore.

Tilting her head to the side, she saw a group of people yelling at each other. Her eyes were still sleepy, but she saw Kagami and Konata in the pack, along with Minami, the girl she just recently met. Was it recent? They were yelling at a group of random students, and it appeared that the conversation was important.

Sad to say, it was.

_Kagami_

"Hiyori? Minami? You're awake too?" Kagami asked the two girls during their conversation. Minami didn't hear the question, but Hiyori did, making her jump. Minami did see her, and both turned to look behind Hiyori. Kagami was standing there, messed up like everyone else here. She untied her hair, allowing it to flow down freely to her back. Her eyes showed restlessness, showing that she hadn't slept properly in awhile. So long that her head hanged a little low, and her gaze typically aimed downwards, though she tried her best to look at the two. Speaking of which, the two slowly nodded at her. Kagami forced a smile on her face, and sat down on the hard, cold floor. She looked around the gym.

"Who got the bodies out of here?" Kagami asked. She had no idea that Hiyori did something like that. If you asked her, Kagami might've said that the world did. Logic didn't make sense here. She sighed deeply, trying to stay awake. They all slept a long time, yet Kagami felt like she hadn't slept in days. God help her.

Hiyori raised her hand. "I did, Kagami-sempai. It took awhile, but I eventually did. Minami and I were talking about outside," Hiyori stated. Kagami flinched a little bit back. Like Hiyori and Minami, Kagami forgot about the outdoors as well. God, when was the last time she saw outside, where natural darkness and light resided? Still, hearing about outside made her heart leap. That could be their ticket out of the school. It was plainly obvious, yet why did no one bring it up?

"Is there a way out?" Kagami asked, kneeling closer towards the two younglings. Kagami was never this spontaneous before, but at a time like this, she could be bouncing off walls in excitement. The two girls fell back, afraid of the tsundere's sudden reaction, but they both smiled. Having hope was the best thing in a time like this. Then Hiyori screamed.

Kagami and Minami looked at Hiyori first. Her eyes were wide, and they were looking right behind Kagami. Minami focused her eyesight to the back of Kagami and stiffened up as well. Kagami gulped, and nervously turned her head to the back of her. After seeing their principal and Nagaru get ripped apart by an unidentified creature, nothing good could come out of a persons' shock. As her head turned as far as it could, she was yanked off the floor.

Staring face-to-face, Kagami looked straight at the menace to society herself, Yamata Nagamori. Her red eyes sparkled in the dim light, which appeared to be greater thanks to numerous additions of flames scattered about. Kagami glared at Yamato, who only smiled devilishly. Next to Nagaru, she too was one of the most feared in Ryoo high. She always acted emotionless, yet whenever angry, she showed off her anger pleasantly well. She had her hairstyle similar to Kagami (pigtails and all), and even was as smart as her. It always struck Kagami odd as to how Yamato succeeded in school while being absent at the same time. She wanted to contemplate this even further in her head, but Yamato was starting to speak.

"Well, Hiiragi, it appears that you three have a plan," she said in a monotone-like voice. Hiyori held onto Minami's arm, trying to look as brave as she can. Yamato always made fun of her drawings, even if they were good. Kagami saw Hiyori acting like an animal cornered, and stepped closer to the bully. She almost didn't realize the three boys standing next to Yamato.

"Back-up?" Kagami asked. She tried to keep her cool. Acting stupid here could get her into trouble. Yamato looked back and chuckled.

"Yes, you could say that, but we're not here to discuss a stupid topic like that. I overheard you three talking about the outdoors. Think we can get out?" she asked, looking at Kagami straight in the eye. Her gaze was the worst part of her. You get stuck inside her gaze, and you're most likely dead on the spot. Kagami really wanted to punch her squarely in the face, but forced the temptation off of her mind; no need to start a fight at an unpleasant time like this. Kagami puffed her cheeks out, and was about to answer her, when Hiyori started mumbling something. Yamato, Kagami and Minami looked at her abashed. Yamato focused her deadly gaze at Hiyori.

"Speak up, you asshole," she said, still smiling. Kagami didn't understand why she called Hiyori that, but then again, no one did. Hiyori looked towards the ground, avoiding any eye contact whatsoever. Yamato crept up towards her and knelt down. She forcibly pulled Hiyori's chin up, making Hiyori gaze directly into her eyes. "What the hell did you just say?" Yamato semi-repeated. Hiyori wanted to look down, but Yamato was literally crushing her jaw.

"O-outside. The side door is open. We could get out of here," Hiyori said, muffled due to her lips being forced into a smooching-like pose. Yamato nodded her head and threw Hiyori's head to the ground. Kagami was ready to take her on, but once more fought the temptation. She pranced around them, smiling evilly as she conspired a plan in her head. Her group of boys looked at each other, shrugging before beginning to walk along with their boss. How Yamato got three boys to join a group with her worried Kagami, for though she was the second scariest (_Is she now the first?)_, guys or girls never were around the semi-tsundere. Either they would be creeped out by her and at the first opportunity run, or they would just avoid her altogether. Were the guys planning to do something to her? Even if she was cold-hearted, whatever those boys might do was unholy.

Yamato turned back to them, still wearing that emotionless smile. She looked at Kagami, and began to stifle a laugh. Kagami was confused as to why Yamato would break out laughing, but then Kagami saw the rest of the students. She looked at them wide-eyed as the group began to surround them. Most of them gave them simple fearful looks, while others looked at the group angrily. One person ran up to Kagami, and she had to sigh in relief. Konata's leg seemed a lot better now, though she still limped around.

"Kagami! You think we can get out. Oh, I knew you'd save the day!" Konata said, hugging Kagami tightly. Konata definitely recovered from her traumatic emotion she was experiencing a little bit back, but her sudden outburst made Kagami angry. She never liked being hugged in front of everyone anyways. However, she didn't have to force Konata off, for a strange hand pulled the little girl off of Kagami. Kagami looked up to see a male student looking at her very pissed off.

"Were you planning on leaving without us you fucking bitch?!" the boy yelled in her face. Before Kagami could move back or even say something, a blow to the face sent her spiraling down to the ground. Her mind was clogged up as the pain soared from her brain down to her cheek. She placed her hand on the bruise, and grimaced as her fingers danced over the dying skin. That damn boy slapped her. God, he didn't know who he was put up against.

Kagami stood up, and looked at the boy. Immediately, the boy realized his mistake and walked backwards towards the bleachers. He didn't want to be killed by the famed Kagami right here, right now. Kagami would've enjoyed taking the guy down, but she didn't want to cause a scene, so she quietly lowered her fists down. A girl around the size of Yutaka now stood closer to Kagami. "Kagami-sempai, how can we get out of here?" she asked. Kagami, once filled with fury, was now feeling rather sad as the girl looked up at her. She couldn't have been more than 10 years old; she must've been a guest at the school. Kagami almost grew teary-eyed over the fact that such a little girl was being put through this. How much scarring did she already receive?

Before Kagami could reply, in came Yamato in the conversation. "Well, wakai on'nanoko, there's a door that's open over there that leads to the outside life. All we need is one brave person to go out there and see if it's safe," Yamato said, eyeballing Kagami. Kagami shook her head, but couldn't say anything to get back into the conversation. Then again, one person to go out? To make sure it's safe? That seemed a little too farfetched.

Yamato looked around the room. No one said anything, nor moved a muscle. Even Kagami remained motionless. Yamato chuckled once more, and walked towards the side door. "C'mon, it's just going outside and walking around. At the first sense of danger, you come back straight in here. Everybody got that?" Yamato asked. Again, everyone remained silent, including her goons, who were still standing by her as she told them about the precautions.

"No."

Everyone looked towards a kid wearing a full-fledge tuxedo. Kagami noticed him once before, and had to admit he was kind of attractive on the outside. However, only on the outside; Bottled up inside that plastic human shell of a teen was an over-religious American. Next to Patricia, he's the only other American currently going to Ryoo high. He sported the blonde hair and blue eyes that every American seemed to have, yet had the most distinct personality. He was hated by everyone, yet he never cared. He only read two books: the Bible (written in strong English that Kagami couldn't understand) and this strange book that Kagami couldn't recall the name for; "The Giver" or something. Either way, he always talked about how the Japanese will burn in hell for not being full-fledge Christians, and always praying to god not to be taken away to the dark one after speaking the Japanese dialect. What was his problem with the Japanese anyway?

"You have something to say, Justin?" Yamato asked, her grin still present on her face. Justin walked up to her, holding out the bible in his hand. The cover was a little-bit torn up, but nothing really major. What everyone was worried about was why he had the bible in the first place.

Justin walked through the crowd, holding up the bible at everyone, condemning them in English so no one understood him. "Do you not see? All of you signed a pact with the devil during World War 2, and now you are all paying the price under the name of the lord. You are here in hell to be punished for your sins of not converting!" He yelled in English. No one understood all of the words, but Yamato was angry enough.

"Quiet, Justin. We never signed a pact with this so-called devil!" she yelled, still sporting no emotion at all. Everyone started to murmur in agreement, but Justin still stood facing her.

"You are all fools under the name of god! You work with the devil, and this is what you get. All of you, young or not, are descendants of the dark one. Soon, your family will burn as wel-"

"Shut up!"

Justin looked to the side of him only to be greeted by Tsukasa, who looked at him with pity and anger. She was comforting the little girl Kagami came across before. She was crying due to Justin's terrible comments. "You're making us all on edge. Please stop!" she yelled.

"Shut up, you whore of the devil!" He yelled. Kagami heard the sudden outburst and, well, that was the breaking point. No one was going to call her sister a whore in front of her. Kagami glided across the room and immediately slammed her fist into Justin's face. He tried to block her, but Kagami attacked swiftly, giving no breathing room for the zealot. She kept at him, punch after punch landing directly at his face. She didn't know why, but it felt good hurting this kid. Her anger was at least leaving her body.

Then the book slammed into her face. Kagami was immediately thrown to the ground, her cheek now bleeding. The bible was one heavy book, almost like it was made out of metal. Why did they allow him to carry such a book into school? Justin's face was badly swollen, with blood running down from around his eyes down to his chin.

"Find, if you want to try and escape the devils grasp, fine by me. But don't come bowing to me for forgiveness once he claims your soul!" Justin yelled, before running towards the bleachers. As Kagami stood up, there was a short cheer from everyone for Kagami's bold move. Even Yamato nodded her head.

"Alright, now that that's over, who wants to try and go out?" Yamato asked. The cheering ended abruptly, and the room was once again filled with silence, with the exception of Justin praying to himself in the corner. Kagami was hurting badly, so she didn't feel like attempting to go out. Konata didn't want to, Miyuki didn't want to, Ayano didn't want to, and Minami's group didn't want to.

"I'll do it…" Tsukasa said.

_Tsukasa_

"Tsukasa, no!" Kagami yelled, rushing towards her sister. Tsukasa looked at her sister in a frightened manner. Kagami didn't want her only sister to run out and have the chance of getting killed. Kagami couldn't live with that. However, Tsukasa ignored her sister and walked towards Yamato. Before stepping in front of the door, she turned to face Justin. Justin was in the middle of praying, but he did look up to see her gaze falling on him.

"If I'm the Devil's whore, then he will kill me the first chance he gets. I'll show you that I'm not a whore," Tsukasa said, still looking at the boy. She couldn't really tell, but Justin was laughing to himself. Apparently he found people attempting to defy god rather amusing. Kagami started to have tears flow down her cheeks. This wasn't her sister. Tsukasa always spoke more happily than others, yet now she spoke similar to Yamato, cold and lethargic.

"Tsukasa…"

"I have a flashlight everyone. If I don't come back in ten minutes, don't follow me," she said. Yamato was rather pleased with Tsukasa's braveness, and slowly opened the door. Once the door opened, the rain came pouring in. Besides Minami and the boy who was being rained on, no one realized that it was raining outside. Everyone was shocked by the strange spectacle in front of them. They all acted like they never saw rain before in their life. Tsukasa felt the rain pour down on her, and allowed it to soothe her pain. While she was in a strange world filled with monsters, the rain felt just the same.

But before she could step out the door, Kagami pulled her into a hug. Tsukasa wanted her to let go at first, but then slowly came back to her senses. She wasn't the big, macho girl she just was a moment ago. No, now she was her old self, terrified and not understanding. How did she end up in this mess?

"Tsukasa, please be okay. I want to follow you," Kagami said as they still embraced. Tsukasa didn't feel it, but she realized that she was crying to.

"Onee-chan, I don't want others to die if going outside is proven fatal. Please, I'll be alright," Tsukasa said, almost choking as the tears slid down her face. The two of them stayed in that position for well over 10 minutes, allowing the rain to fall to the ground. No one wanted to even attempt breaking the sisterly bond going on in front of them. However, Tsukasa soon pushed her sister away, and turned back towards the door. She looked behind herself one last time before stepping out into the dark void.

Outside was just like the outdoors the school always had. Since this was the side door, she was on the pathway to the track field, where she ran not to long ago. So far, so good, she was actually making it far out without being threatened to be killed. Kagami kept trying to get her back into the school, but the rain muted her speech. Tsukasa was in another world. Each step was vital…

She never heard the clicking noise under her feet. She never saw the metallic object jutting out of the ground. No, she never saw the mine. Once she tripped and fell backwards off of the mind, it exploded, causing a pretty array of lights to be showcased in front of the survivors. Soon afterword, Tsukasa came flying back into the school, straight to the ground. In common sense, the regular human would go and attempt to help her up, but not this time. This time, everyone screamed in terror at the spectacle in front of them.

_Why is everyone screaming at me? _Tsukasa thought to herself. It was pretty odd, but Tsukasa didn't even know a mine was set off below her. There were mines lying around, and no one even knew. If anyone knew, Tsukasa wouldn't be in this situation right now. Her sister came running up to her, making Tsukasa even more confused. What the hell was going on.

"On-onee-chan…" Tsukasa said, blurting out blood. Kagami's voice was distant, but Tsukasa could still hear it.

"No, no, no! Tsukasa…" she said, crying into her chest. She didn't feel her sisters' tears, but at the same time, she didn't feel her legs.

Her legs were blown straight off due to the explosion.

Tsukasa looked down, trying to move her feet when she saw the empty space below her stomach. Blood seeped out of her rather quickly. Tsukasa didn't want to believe it, but the answer came to her: she was dying. Her sister was here, crying into her chest. She didn't know what happened, but whatever did happen outside of the school, all she knew was that she failed. While all of these sad feelings filled her mind, she didn't feel any pain, but felt rather lax. She actually smiled at her sister, who was a crying wreck.

"Onee-chan?" Tsukasa asked quietly. Her vision was blurring up too quickly for her. _Please god, one more word._ Kagami looked up at her sister's face, and held her face up.

"What is it, Tsu? Please, tell me!" She said, the tears draining out of her eyes like water from a faucet. Tsukasa's lax feeling died out, and her last emotion was now sadness. Her vision was almost gone.

_One more word…_

"I'm so sorry, Onee-chan…everybody…I…I'm so sorry!" Tsukasa yelled, crying out her last tears. Then, as her vision faded away, she closed her eyes.

Kagami held onto her sister, crying loudly into her chest. It was one of the only times she ever bawled. But, Tsukasa did get her final wish: she did get to say her last word.

In two minutes, Tsukasa was dead.

_99 Students remaining_

_4 adults remaining_


	5. The Fear in Us All 2

_Day 02_

_Ryoo High_

_Gymnasium_

_God's punishment_

_99 students remaining_

_4 adults remaining_

_Hiyori_

Tsukasa's death came way too quickly. Sure, Hiyori saw a lot of dead bodies over the past hours, and hell, she even cleaned up most of them from the room. But having a person you know die right in front of you was different. Different as well was the fact that she knew who Tsukasa was, and that deeply affected her feelings. She felt like she was going to throw up. Tsukasa was fine and dandy when she left the building. Now she lay motionless on the ground, missing the lower half of her body. There was blood still seeping out of her, but it appeared to have slowed its pace, as Tsukasa's once bright skin became frail and pale. God, what the hell happened? It all happened so fast, and the whole event was finished in less than a minute.

But Tsukasa's death wasn't the factor that made Hiyori worry (she later regretted this.) There were something's that seemed rather off about the situation. The first thing she noticed was that when Tsukasa stepped out that side door, there was no sign of a dead body anywhere. When Hiyori removed the bodies, she stacked them up on top of each other right outside the door. However, Tsukasa never ran into one (for the couple of seconds she was out there), nor was impeded by the stacked up bodies she left behind. What happened to them? Hiyori gulped. Was something really outside, like the creature in the halls? No, there couldn't be anything out there. But then again, there was a mine lying strangely in front of the door, a hindrance she never noticed. Hell, was it ever there in the first place?

Speaking of the mine, the blast seemed off as well. While her focus was more towards the now dead Tsukasa being tossed off the floor, she realized that besides Tsukasa's legs, nothing else got damage. The ground around it was untouched, and the walls of the building barely sustained a scratch. Worse, though she didn't want to think about it, Tsukasa should've been completely decimated, not just her legs. Mines are stronger than that. While she pondered the raging question, she watched Kagami crying next to the carcass that was her sister. Hiyori gulped. The side door still remained open, and she felt responsible for opening it and closing it. She was the one who noticed it first out of everyone. But first, she had to calm Kagami down. No one else seemed to try to help the tsundere out, so she felt like she had to help her out.

Walking towards her, she slightly smiled. It wasn't everyday a lower-classmate helped out a higher educated individual. Still, she couldn't receive anything, for her homeroom teacher was probably dead or missing. The only adults she knew that were still hanging on were the two teachers who talked to each other and the odd-looking janitor. That's when another thought came to her. During the whole incident with Tsukasa, the two teachers seemed to have vanished. When she was cleaning the bodies up, she didn't see the two teachers. Did they run off? She shrugged, and tried to shake the feeling away. They were probably alright.

Teachers never die…

"Kagami-sempai? Sempai?" Hiyori began to say. She was greeted by a cold, dark glare from Kagami.

"Back off!" Kagami yelled, the tears still running down from her eyes. All the light from her blue eyes were gone, now replaced with sadness and anger. She wasn't taken this all to well. Hiyori couldn't even attempt to walk forward; Kagami was deadly when angry. She stumbled back, trying to get Kagami's stare off of her, but something broke her awkward walk. Turning her head, Hiyori was surprised by Konata. The blue-haired otaku had a solemn look on her face as she walked up to Kagami.

"Back off already!" Kagami retorted once more. She had her arm ready to fight off anyone. Konata didn't stop in her movement. Hiyori was carefully watching. For some reason, Konata wasn't afraid of Kagami's anger. Hiyori saw how Konata reacted when the tsundere verbally assaulted her. Konata would usually flinch back and refrain from talking for hours. Yet, Konata walked toward Kagami like nothing was happening. Maybe it was just the situation or something.

"Please Kagami. There's nothing we can do. I'm sad about it to," Konata said, oddly holding back her own tears as well. Konata rarely cried. But the death didn't make her bawl out loud like a baby. No, what Kagami just did there made her cry like the little child. As Konata knelt down next to Kagami, the tsundere started to shake with anger, supposedly thinking that Konata was a threat. Without thinking, Kagami swiftly swung her arm at Konata, simply trying to push her away. Kagami didn't want to harm the otaku, but she didn't know that the blow she gave was severe. Her hand forcibly pushed her otaku friend in the face, leaving a bruise across Konata's cheek. If Kagami heard correctly, there was a slight hint of a "crack" once her hand pushed on Konata.

Konata didn't even cry. She fell to the ground, quiet and motionless. Kagami didn't even realize what she did at first. All she focused on was her dead sister. Tsukasa was dead, she knew it, but she just couldn't accept it. However, the scene finally kicked in once she saw others in the crowd running to Konata to attempt to help the stunned girl. Konata was still awake, but lay on the floor, silent. It wasn't everyday your best friend violently hurt you.

"K-Konata! Oh no, what did I do?" Kagami said, realizing the situation. Tsukasa was dead, and now her friend was hurt. _Good god, is she dying? _Kagami thought as she checked on Konata's head. Too many people died in just a few hours; nearly 300 kids, Kyon, Nagaru, their principal, her sister…; she gulped. Her sister was gone, and now her best friend was hurt. Two others, Hiyori and a random bystander, came to help.

"Konata-sempai, can you hear me?" Hiyori asked. Konata was awake, but not talking. Hiyori looked at Kagami, who was shaking the otaku awake. How did she do that? Kagami just pushed Konata away, yet the force she exerted from her hand was way too strong, even for a tsundere. Somehow, she hurt Konata painfully.

This world was messed up.

However, Hiyori quickly forgot what she was about to do: close the door. Sure, she forgot the dreams she usually had, but never forgot trivial things like closing a simple door. But today she forgot such a thing, and that such a thing almost cost her everyone's lives.

As the three of them tried to wake up Konata, a buzzing sound was heard outside, literally sounding like the light that brought them all here. Yet, a strange tang was added to it, making it sound more robust and chaotic. Hell, why were they hearing that noise now? It made no sense. Hiyori looked out into the abyss, but couldn't see anything past the doorway. The darkness was too thick.

Too thick?

Then her eyes grew wide in terror. It wasn't the dark that was thick; no, it was…

"B-bu…" Hiyori stammered. T he horror playing through her mind plagued her from completing her words. Being that Kagami was right beside her, she switched her focus onto Hiyori.

"What?"

"B-u…"

"Come on, finish your sentence!"

Hiyori's mouth was moving up and down as though she was a ventriloquist dummy being used. Instead of communicating verbally, she pointed her finger towards the open door. The boy and Kagami looked out into the void. Like Hiyori, they saw nothing else but the endless thick black fog of darkness. Kagami was trying to deceiver what Hiyori was pointing at. _Bu…bu…what is that?_ Kagami thought. In an instant, the boy suddenly realized what Hiyori was trying to say, and immediately screamed.

"Bugs!"

The boy started to point just like Hiyori to the darkness. Kagami was confused why he shouted that, but then she saw it. The void looked still and immobile, yet with just a blink of an eye, she saw it shift to the right. The buzzing seemed to grow louder, though not as bad as the sound they previously heard. Kagami flinched backwards, not knowing what was going on outside. She looked around at Konata and Tsukasa. Those…things were flying towards them, and the two of them were definitely not moving.

Hiyori was shocked with awe at how many bugs there were. There had to be 100, no, 1,000, no, 10,000 of them flying towards the school. How far were they? By comparison, the bugs looked like they were right outside the door, yet they didn't seem to get any closer to them. Hiyori watched the bugs for a couple of more seconds before finally figuring out that they were hovering. 10,000 bugs hovered right in front of the door. Were they in front of the door?

Immediately, she jumped up off the floor and began to shut the door, when one of the bugs dashed towards her. The creature flew extremely fast, flying through the air like a racecar, crashing in-between the room and the door. At first, no one really knew what to inspect when the bugs were mentioned, and most hoped that the boy blurted out a random word. Well, once the creature flew halfway into the room, everyone knew that the bugs were reality. Soon, just like when Nagaru died, the whole place became chaotic. Everyone dashed quickly away from the door, straight towards the bleachers across the other side of the room, leaving Kagami, the boy, Hiyori, Tsukasa and Konata to fend off the creatures.

Hiyori shrieked in terror as the bug fidgeted around. It had the face of a moose, a skeletal version of an elephant for its body, bird like legs, a bushy tail like a squirrel, and its wings were just like bats. The size of the creature was around the size of a person's abdomen, making the door bulge out just ever so slightly. The beast was screeching in pain, as purplish fluid leaked out of its eyes and body. Hiyori struggled to keep the door closed, but the monster was definitely fighting back.

"Please help me!" Hiyori screamed as the creature attempted to push the door open once more. Kagami stood up and held the other half of the door as everyone else ran around. The boy didn't know what to do, so he stayed with the blue-haired otaku.

_Patricia_

"Dear god, I can't hold it!"

Hiyori and Kagami were trying to hold the door closed, but their attempts were futile against the creatures. Bumps appeared over the door, as the creatures outside pushed into the door. The buzzing got even louder. All Patricia could do at this moment was watch the whole event unfold. She never did admit it, but she never fancied any type of bug. Animals were okay, but things like ants and spiders completely terrified her.

All of this reminded her of those spiders who invaded her home during the summertime when she still lived in Milford, Connecticut. She was still in middle school, yet looked no different. She did, however, have a different personality. While she spoke a lot while she lived in Japan, she barely spoke in America. Where she lived, otaku's like herself were basically shunned from society. No, they could still live among others, but Milford just didn't really accept them like everyone else. People bullied her, yes, but she never really spoke about it. Being alone either makes you quiet or insane, sometimes both. Either way, she just never spoke…

…Which is the case when she saw the spider outside of her house that one cool July morning.

It was just past 12 noon, but it felt like a cool spring morning. Patricia was reading a Japanese imported light novel, just barely understanding what was happening. Her house was a standard house in Milford; wood and cement put together with some fancy design for the windows. She sat on the front porch, letting the breeze run through her short, blonde hair. Usually, she hid indoors, but today, she felt, was a great day. The forecast predicted rain coming, and Patricia loved the moment before the storm hit. Milford was kind of hilly, and had a lot of trees, so she enjoyed the clouds running against the leaves. You couldn't get a better picture anywhere else but here in Milford.

At the same time, you also couldn't get the spider invasion the Martin family endured.

While Patricia read, she felt things running by her bare feet. At first, she paid no heed to them, but then the rustling grew more vigorous, making her look down. She saw thousands of them scampering about on the porch, running directly towards their front door. Patricia wasn't really afraid of them at this moment, since they weren't doing anything to her, but one spider did stop. It stood right in the doorway, where the others were running towards. Some of the spiders crawled around him, while others turned around and ran back. Patricia looked at him, and it looked at her. This creature fascinated her, for it didn't look like a regular spider. Instead, the creature looked like a miniature goat, looking directly at her. As she looked at it, studied it, it seemed to have… growled.

With that, Patricia passed out in terror. It wasn't everyday a creature at that size growls at you.

The rest of the memory was hazy for her, so she immediately stopped thinking about the nostalgic memory. She sat next to one of the flames, allowing her to see everyone else scampering around the gym, getting as far away as they can from the door. Kagami and Hiyori were still attempting to hold the door back against the creatures, but it was no use. In less than a second, the creatures came flying in, crashing the door down on top of the two girls. The screams that everyone was emitting were raised to a falsetto level. Everyone ducked as the creatures flew above their heads. Most were able to dodge the incoming hostiles, perfectly safe under them. However, some couldn't move in time, and thus were hit by the bugs.

The bugs mostly just rammed into the kids, making most bleed and fall onto their backs. Others, however, were bitten by the creatures, sending a roar of moans out into the room. Everyone still remained on the ground, since the creatures didn't seem to notice them while they lay on the ground. At least, that was what the creatures wanted them to think, for what Patricia saw were the bugs dancing around the bodies. She looked towards Tsukasa, and saw some nibbling on her dead body, yet most ignored Konata. Was she still alive? The boy protecting her swung at the creatures with a broom the Janitor was holding when the attacks were commenced. He was doing a hefty job, for the creatures flew away from him and attacked the rest of the students. That was when two of the bugs grabbed him.

He was yanked off the floor, dangling in the air as the rest of the bugs danced around him. One bug was holding his right arm, and another held his left. He tried to fight them, but they wouldn't loosen their grasp. The buzzing grew louder as the rest of the crowd of creatures began to ambush the flying kid.

"Hey, help! HELP!" the boy screamed. Everyone shrieked as the creatures hoped onto him. Once the last bug hopped onto him (all that could fit on him, anyways), the muffled screaming coming from the boy ceased. Everyone held their breath as the bugs did their mysterious work. Pretty soon, the bugs flew away, leaving open air behind them. The boy was nowhere in sight. Everyone screamed in fright as the creatures flew around the room, the remnants of the boy resting in the all of the creature's stomachs.

Patricia, not knowing what she was doing, screamed out loud. This attracted the bugs, who were just dancing around the roof, chewing on the bodies still attached to the roof. Each and everyone dashed towards her, turning Patricia pale. The creatures were showing no mercy towards her, and they glided over all the bodies just to reach her. Patricia could've ducked in time, but just remembering how that spider "growled" at her that one day froze her to the bone. The bugs enjoyed watching her in her current state, and charged even quicker towards the American. Yutaka and Minami, who were crouching on the ground, tried to tell Patricia to duck, but Patricia was completely clueless over what was happening._ I-I can't die now! _thought Patricia. Still, she didn't move, allowing the bugs to invade her breathing space. She raised her hands, preparing for the inevitable.

That was when the shot was heard. It sounded slightly muffled, though still close by. Patricia, along with the students who were looking at the floor, could only gaze at the creatures hovering in front of them. Almost all of them stopped dead in their tracks, with the exception of one. One bug was spinning uncontrollably, purplish fluid leaking out of its skeletal body. It shrieked in pain, and its limbs began to shake. Then another shot occurred, this time silencing the screeching bug. The creature landed on top of girl, making her shriek as the fluid covered her.

Pretty soon, shots were heard every two seconds, all sounding like machine guns firing into a soldier. Everyone held their breath, not making noise. As bug after bug fell to the floor with bullet wounds invading their bodies, the remaining ones that still flew around began to turn back towards the open door, screeching in terror. The bullets still rained down on them, only aiming at the fleeing creatures. While most were able to leave the premises, some were still shot, falling towards the earth at a high velocity.

As the last bug flew out the door, everyone looked up at the windows, where the bullets appeared to have been fired from. No one else could see out them besides Patricia, for lying on the ground obscured everyone's vision looking upwards. Patricia only saw the souls for a few seconds. It was only for a short time, but she yelped in disbelief. She definitely saw something.

From what she saw, it appeared to be three people, each standing parallel to each other. What guns they had was a mystery to her, but they looked rather bigger than any gun she ever saw (granted she only saw pistols and machine guns in anime, so it was hard to put them in prospective with real guns.) The souls had flashlights around their waists, probably to protect them from the creatures in the dark (_How many creatures are there?)_ It was hard to tell, and since they began to leave as Patricia studied them, it was almost impossible to judge, but she could've sworn that they looked like kids.

So, are there others in the school? Survivor's maybe?

"Don't you see now?"

As Patricia contemplated the thought, everyone turned their gaze towards the religious zealot. Unlike everyone else, he wasn't shaken in fright at all. Hell, he still wore the same damn smile he usually did when he was proven correct. He walked forward towards a creature spinning uncontrollably on the ground. Next to his brethren, he was the only still fidgeting around; the rest were silenced on the ground from the bullets. However, this creature was only shot once, where the other bullets simply zipped by him. Justin walked towards it, slightly amused and, before anyone could take action, squished the head of the bug with the sole of his shoe. He turned back towards the awestruck crowd.

"Do you now see? All of us are in Hell. Due to your signing with the devil, we are facing the consequences for your actions. You all dragged me down here. So, if none of you believed it at first, I hope you see the proof in front of you," Justin said nonchalantly. As everyone looked at him angrily, with most holding their fists back, some were actually contemplating whether he was right or wrong. At a time like this, anything is believable. Justin sighed to himself, began praying once more, and sat back down on the cold bleachers.

_Sojiro_

_Local police station_

_Kasukabe_

He paced around the room, supporting his chin with his left hand. How long has it been anyways? Either way, it doesn't matter anymore. His daughter was gone for way too long. The whole school, in less than a day (hell, less than half of one), just vanishes. He sighed to himself, feeling like it was his entire fault that Konata was gone. He was actually planning on keeping her home that day, for it just seemed suspicious to him that a science fair came to her school. Last time he checked, Ryoo high never had a science fair before; what was up with the occasion? It was too out of the ordinary.

And now she's gone. How the hell was he supposed to go one without his daughter? Oh, mysteries…

Of course, Sojiro wasn't the only one in the lobby. Besides the lady at the counter, there were some family members of other students lost in the strange incident. Sitting in a chair nearby, Yukari was reading a tabloid newspaper found on the table nearby, though her thoughts were on Miyuki (_Even Miyuki? Damn, what's wrong with this school?)_. Next to her, sitting in a seat just two down from her, Miss. Iwasaki was looking out the window, seeming to be looking out at the street, where junior high students rode their bikes down the sidewalk. She still had a solemn look on her face, but it was clear that Minami was on her mind. Standing on the other side were the Hiiragi's and the Martin's, talking with tears in their eyes; even the elder Hiiragi sisters showed up, though they chose to remain quiet. The Tamura family sat at another row of seats, trying to hide the pain of losing Hiyori, covering their pain in Romance-style books. Mr. Minegishi was the only family member to show for Ayano's family, mentioning that his wife came down with a sudden illness. The Kusakabe's, as usual, had a no-show. Of course, there were other families in the lobby (the most the police saw at one given time), but only the family members of Konata's friends were the ones he cared about.

Yui Kobayakawa, his cousin, was still searching around the Saitama Prefecture, desperately looking for her sister Yutaka along with the other missing students. It suddenly came to Sojiro that unlike other major incidents that occurred in the past, no police member mentioned the incident in public, only stating it when family members of the lost were present. Besides Kasukabe, the whole Prefecture was clueless to the disappearance of the kids in the school. Even Yui never really mentioned the incident unless all parents were either in the same location or vicinity. Sojiro sometimes questioned her about the search, but she always turned away. _Yui, please, why won't you tell me anything?_ Sojiro yelled in his mind. He could've yelled at the police, but he didn't want to risk it.

Least not yet.

They were all waiting for the chief to stop by, who was expected to make this big announcement about the case. However, no word was spoken over what the announcement was. Did they somehow find the missing students? If so, where in god's name did they put them? Or, what if its bad news and they found the students dead? _Stop thinking that, Sojiro. They're going to be alright. C'mon, Konata is alright, and this whole ordeal will blow off by tomorrow. Just think happy thoughts. Think Tsunderes, think Tsunderes!_

While everyone looked at him queerly, Sojiro smiled in awe at his thoughts. If anything can turn him lax, it was his perverted mind. Soon, Konata wasn't his big worry at the moment. But all of that changed once the Chief came wandering in, holding a clipboard in one hand, a blue ball-point pen in the other. Walking with him appeared to be three policemen geared up in S.W.A.T-like armor. No one could understand why they dressed up in this fashion, but when a major police organization is involved, it had to have some meaning. Some reason. Something…

Sojiro was taken out of his "lively" thoughts and brought back from cloud nine, now having to focus on the Chief and his backup. Already, family members began shooting questions at them, too fast for any of the police up front to comprehend. To halt the incoming messages, the Chief raised his hand holding the clipboard, holding the paper end towards him, thwarting any chance of taking a peek at it. Suddenly, every parent stopped their questioning, and now stood frozen at their spot, awaiting the big announcement from the Chief.

Coughing three times, he checked every parent, and began to showcase a frown. Every other meeting had the chief smiling, and always having a carefree announcement. Now, he looked all pale and sad at the same time._ Oh, no, what happened?_ Sojiro thought to himself as the Chief ran his hand through the papers on the clipboard.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this whole incident shook us all, and we understand your feelings over the mess. But, it appears that the case is over. We've found the students out in a warehouse. They all seemed to be hiding for some reason," the Chief said. It sounded like he was about to say something else, but the crowd began wooting and cheering or the happy news. The Hiiragi's burst into tears, Mr. Minegishi smiled to himself, Miss Iwasaki still looked angry, and the rest simply clapped. But, Sojiro noticed something strange. The Chief never smiled after the statement. It took about two minutes for everyone to know he still had a solemn look on him. As the cheering died down, the Chief continued.

"However, this is where the bad news sets in. When we did find the students, all of them were dead. They appeared to have committed a mass suicide. Even the teachers from the school have been identified as committing suicide as well. We are sorry for the news," he said. The cheerful and hopeful mood in the lobby was now gone. Half the parents stayed quiet in disbelief, while the other half began to cry, knowing that they will never see their children alive again.

Yet, Sojiro noticed something strange about how the Chief gave the news. Now, he knew little about how people looked when they lied, but the Chief appeared to have a strange tone when he said the horrible update. He heard him every other time, and even when he looked sad, he always had that nice-sounding tone. But here, he sounded completely different. Was he not saying something to them? Sojiro began to get angry. _Great, even the Chief appears to be holding something back. No, no I'm not allowing this!_

As the Chief began to read off the students identified, He looked up to see Sojiro dashing towards him. Before the police could do anything, the Chief was on the ground as Sojiro pounded him in the face.

"You're lying! You're not saying something to us! What is this, a setup? Did you actually find them?" Sojiro yelled as his fists landed on the Chief's face. Before the Chief could say anything, the other members pulled him off, handcuffing the older Otaku. Sojiro tried to break the cuffs, but the other policemen aimed their rifles at him. This caused him to stop, though he still shook just a little. The rest of the families could only stare awestruck at him.

"You're hiding something! I'll never quit until you tell me everything!" Sojiro yelled as he was escorted down the hall. He knew that the Chief wasn't saying something. It was a feeling at first, but now he knew it.

A clear, cold fact was being hidden from them.

_Misao_

_Ryoo High_

Regardless of her physical state, Misao was actually making good progress through the water-filled room. Sure, her ankle was sore, but that wasn't stopping her anytime soon. She would rather prefer walking over swimming, but in order to survive, she had to do what was presented in front of her. She carried the lantern above her head; she didn't know if it was waterproof or not, but she didn't want to take the risk.

Taking hold of part of the floor that didn't cave in yet, Misao gasped for air, trying to get the excess water out of her system. With her hurt ankle, she was constantly bobbing her head up and down as she swam forward. There were thousands of hazards scattered among the plane, scratching her body as she swam through the room. Nothing out in the dark wanted her alive. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to let go of the ground piece and swim onwards towards the next floating piece. The room was definitely bigger than she originally pictured, at least the size of four classrooms. If she could walk through them, she would've felt like they were small, but swimming through them made it feel like she was moving through a gigantic swimming pool. Everything was out to kill her, and everything was bigger than her. _Perfect, _Misao thought to herself, growing a grin on her face.

As she swam, she noticed a mirror floating around the next island. She hadn't seen a mirror in awhile, and had a sudden curiosity to check what she looked like now. She didn't really care for her appearance when she still was in the normal world, but now she desperately wanted to see how bad she looked. She was guessing that she would look completely unfamiliar, quite possible resembling a monster. She snickered at the picture she was making in her mind, and quickly snatched the mirror out of the water.

Grabbing hold onto the piece of floor, she placed the lantern down next to the mirror, allowing her to see herself. Though some glare prevented her from seeing herself clearly, she could make out herself and some of the area behind her. She gasped at the sight displayed. Her hair, which was short and brown with bangs covering her eyes, was severely dismantled, with most of her hair ruffled up, and the bangs were turned to the side. Her face, though constantly bobbing through the water, was dirty, making her tan skin darker than normal. Her chin and lips were cut and bruised, looking blue and rocky. Her sailor-suit was ripped around her shoulders, showing her bare flesh on her shoulders which, like her chin, was bruised. The rest of her was in the water, but she already guessed that she looked horrible. Yet, what made her wonder were her golden-brown eyes. Unlike the rest of her body, they still shined in the light, making it seem like they were untouched throughout the whole ordeal. They weren't dilated, even though she was in the dark for awhile, and even the veins commonly seen on the side of the whites seemed to be missing. She looked like a demy-god from various manga she used to read.

As she evaluated herself, she noticed something behind her in the water. She couldn't see it clearly, but there was a ripple right behind her. Misao quickly turned around and tried to see the cause of it, but nothing seemed to have caused it. "Please be my imagination," Misao said out loud. However, her plea was broken when she saw another ripple nearby, this time bigger than the first. Once it vanished, Misao's heart beat went haywire, beating vigorously inside of her chest. She never noticed it, but something was in the water. Was it following her? Spying on her? No, she was alone; there was no possibility of something following her down in this watery gravesite.

And then the monster appeared.

She didn't see clearly since half of its body was in the darkness, but it definitely showed itself to Misao, snarling at her. It was huge, bigger than any creature Misao ever saw. She only saw one of its bloodshot eyes, and the area around it was dark purple with a hint of red. It appeared to have six layers of lips surrounding its massive teeth, which looked like gigantic versions of her fang. It had rows of spikes covering the top of it, stretching from the top of its head down to the back of him, which was still submerged in the cool water. Misao froze up, and she felt her heart ready to explode. The creature swam around for a couple of seconds before diving back down into the depths.

For awhile, Misao thought the creature was gone, making her calm down. However, once she felt that pulling feeling on her broken ankle, she once again froze up. Her leg now throbbed, and she was maneuvering her hands down to feel it, when she felt a strange slimy substance on her leg. Not realizing it, she was grabbed by the creature, and was beginning to be pulled into the depths. She tried to cling onto the piece of land, but the monster was too strong for her. In no time, she was completely submerged in the dark water, with the lantern above her, still resting on the land.

Her eyes couldn't see anything at all down in the water. She couldn't tell how far they were from the surface, but to her it felt like she was miles away, and the surface was just the looming sky mocking her. She was having difficulty breathing, and having a tentacle pulling her down to her demise wasn't really helping her current situation. Looking down, she never noticed how deep the crater went, seeming to go down forever. How big was the fish, anyways? Misao shook the thought out of her mind as she started to focus on getting out of the creature's hold.

However, getting out was out of the question. The creature was holding her by her broken ankle, sending waves of pain throughout her body. Each time she shook, the creature strengthened its power on her leg, forcing her to either stay still or die. _Son of a bitch…trying to drown me!_ Misao yelled in her mind. Her mind was starting to rot away. How long was she submerged in the water? Now her whole body was turning numb. Pretty soon, she's going to drown, or get eaten by the monster.

Trying to swim up, the creature pulled her down even quicker, this time ripping the skin around her ankle. Red haze began to fill the once black water. It was her blood all right. Yet, she felt no pain. By now, her brain was ready to explode; flashes of color filled her vision. If she waited any longer, she was definitely a goner. _I-I'm…not dying by you! _Misao yelled once more in her mind. Even thinking was hard on her. Her whole body was heating up, and she began to fidget around as the creature yanked her even farther down. Pressure was on her head and body. _Die by lack of oxygen, creature, or implosion? Gee, God, cut me some slack…_

Due to the everlasting darkness, she couldn't see the drill revving up. One of the tentacles of the creature was in the shape of a drill, and it came crash-landing into Misao's chest. She did indeed feel the impact of the drill, sending what remained of her brain into a spiral. Her eyes rolled around as the drill cut through her internal organs. Now, it was impossible to escape. The drill wasn't leaving her body anytime soon. The creature made a strange hissing sound at her, resembling laughter, expecting Misao to die right here in the water. However, Misao's expression changed quickly from a dazed expression to anger. She gritted her teeth, and began to kick the creature's tentacle that was holding her ankle hostage.

This sudden burst of adrenaline gave Misao the advantage to break away from the deadly fish-like creature. Using her free leg, she kicked away the tentacle. Though it was evident that the creature wasn't going to let her go anytime soon, the creature finally screeched in pain, letting her leg free. Pain once again soared throughout her body, but she wasn't caring about it. Her mind was ruined, her body was destroyed, that all was true, but there was one thing she knew that wasn't going to happen: she wasn't dying by this creature. A red haze covered the area around her, but she waved her fist through her own blood; nothing was stopping her now. She didn't think, didn't even contemplate where she was going, but she didn't care. Once she saw land, she was going for it. The fish was close behind, waving its tentacles around her, just missing every shot at her. Misao's vision was now filled with even more flickering lights, now strobe-like. If that fish grabbed her now, it was all over. Than again, it was already over.

Lights flashed around her as she grabbed onto a steep hill protruding out of the water. Using the last of her strength, she lifted herself out of the water, and onto the remnant of the shore, just before the creature could've grabbed her. Its tentacles were literally right behind her, but just came up too short. Once Misao's feet were out of the water, the fish swam back down into the depths. One day, it will claim her.

Now lying on her back, beaten and defeated, Misao looked up into the darkness. Her lantern was on the other side of the room, and she already knew that she couldn't get to it. Laying her head onto the tiled ground, she began to cry. No, this time it wasn't fear causing it; No, she was sad, for once she got onto land, thoughts flooded her. Her whole life flashed before her eyes. There were the happy times like when Misao met Ayano for the first time (_Ayano…)_, when she completed elementary and junior high and met up with Kagami (_Kagami…)_, and then having those dreams of graduating Ryoo high. There were also the bad memories like when her parents kept leaving her alone in the house, when she saw them quarrel in the kitchen, and when Kagami kept running away with Konata (_Ch-chibikko…)_. All of those thoughts flooded her. She wanted to cry out loud, but her body wouldn't allow it.

As the light faded from her eyes, Misao's last tear fell from her eye. In two minutes, Misao laid dormant on the ground, a pool of shattered memories and blood surrounding her. She was foolish to attempt to escape. God hated her, like everyone else. Why couldn't she realize that?

Standing nearby, the blue-haired angel watched Misao fade away into nothingness, leaving an empty-shell behind. She couldn't help but cry at the pitiful sight. Misao wasn't ready to die. The world wasn't ready for her to die. Stepping cautiously over the water, the blue-haired angel moved closer to Misao, her hands glowing with a heavenly aura.

_Miyuki_

As Misao drew her last breathe just below the gym area, Miyuki sat down on the podium in the center of the gym, Kyon's machine behind. It hasn't been that long since they were here, but Miyuki almost forgot about Kyon's existence in the school. He was one of the first deaths for the people who were awake at least. He was the one who made the machine, and the one who probably knew how to get out of this godforsaken place. What did he say again?

_"Oh well, in order to get back home, you have to fix the arch. However, I'm the only one who can. If I do it, I already know what my reward is. More torture, right? Well fuck off, Ryoo High, because from this day on, burn in hell!"_

Just hearing those words in her mind made her feel overwhelmed with guilt. Everyone was guilty for picking on Kyon, including herself. No, she never picked on him, but she did nothing to stop the abuse. Now he is gone, hopefully in a better place than this. She couldn't hold back some tears being held in her eyes, so she slowly let them out, trying not to sniff.

But there was one other thing. Kyon said that they had to fix the machine in order to get out of here. Looking back, Miyuki did see that the machine had some dents covering it, though none seemed to fatal. She wasn't the greatest engineer, and there was a big chance that no one else alive knew what engineering even meant. Miyuki sighed to herself, knowing that, since she is considered the smartest one here, she was responsible for getting everyone out.

But just how were you supposed to fix a machine like that?

As she pondered to herself, she looked around. After the big bug attack, everyone remained silent, and moved to their separate groups, excluding themselves from everyone around them. There was literally no noise going on inside the gym, with the exception of some coughing and sneezing. However, those didn't come from any regular person. No, some students were unlucky and got sprayed with some of the bugs' blood. It's been only two hours since the attack, and those people seemed to be coming down with fevers. They occasionally coughed and sneezed, making the other students walk away from them. The blood was still evident on them, making most grimace at the poor children. Miyuki didn't know what to do with them, but the sight of them getting up and wandering towards Justin made her scared. She couldn't hear a single word being spoken by the kids or the zealot, but whatever it was; something bad was going to happen.

"Miyuki?"

Miyuki quickly shifted her gaze away from the zealot and his small group and focused her attention on the girl standing next to her. Having her hair slightly disheveled due to lack of care, Ayano looked entirely different. Her hair, which was once pulled back, now fell in front of her sky-blue eyes. Her once flame-orange hair was now colored darker, making it look red as a tomato (Then again, it could've been from the crackling flame's guiding yet ominous light.) Her clothing still looked normal, though she was pretty much dirty. Covering the lower section of her figure, her skirt (which was red in the first place) was now damp, showing more red covering the outside of it. Her legs seemed bloody as well, though it wasn't that noticeable.

"Ah, Ayano-san, you startled me," Miyuki said, smiling at her, closing her eyes so she couldn't see Ayano's bloody appearance. Miyuki couldn't tell if it was from her or someone else, but seeing blood on Ayano just creeped her out. Ayano wasn't the type of person you see who ends up in bloody situations. She was too much of a saint for things like that. Still, Miyuki had to hold her breath and look at her, for she couldn't stand the pain of looking at others crying around her. Wait, why were they crying? Weren't they just silent? Miyuki's mind was getting into a dazzle, and Ayano had to break her out of it.

"Um, I brought you some food," she said. Miyuki, hesitantly at first, looked at Ayano. In her bloody hands were some crackers. It was such a simple food for most, but Miyuki didn't even realize that she was starving. She hadn't eaten for awhile, and was never able to eat lunch before the incident (did they even make it to lunch?) The crackers Ayano showcased in front of the pink-haired meganekko made her mouth water. Though her lips were dry, she couldn't help but drool, leaving a bit of saliva falling freely down her chin. Ayano noticed this, and giggled. Yet, as what Miyuki could see, her giggle sounded painful. Was something on her mind?

"Thank you, Ayano-san, but I don't want to eat right now. I'm fine, really," Miyuki said. She was the schools brightest, yet at the same time was the school's worst liar. Even people like Misao and Konata could easily tell that Miyuki was lying. It was quite funny, mind me.

Sitting down next to Miyuki, Ayano's eyes seemed to droop, and her smiling face vanished from her. Miyuki was starting to feel the sensation of throwing up as she looked at Ayano's pale skin with the crimson-red blood bouncing off her smooth physique. Ayano looked like a poor man's excuse for a horror attraction. _Ladies and gents, I present to you the amazing Ayano, the world's first bloody beauty! Looking like a saint, yet at the same time looking like the dark one's bastard child, she will send chills down your spine!_

Without even noticing it, Ayano began to cry a little, having fragments of tears flow down her smooth skin. Miyuki, summoning up the courage to look at her friend, watched as Ayano slowly broke down in front of her. "Ayano-san, please tell me what's wrong?" Miyuki asked. Ayano rubbed her now soaked red eyes and looked straight at Miyuki, who was frozen in her position. Ayano sighed, and looked down at her skirt.

"I-I-I-I tried to save him."

Miyuki looked at her demoralized, trying to figure out what she meant. Ayano still only looked at the gym floor, tears flowing down the tip of her nose and down to the cool floor. Then Miyuki came to a realization. Looking back towards the crowd she saw just a couple of seconds ago crying, she noticed a body lying down. All of the people around the body were crying, sitting on their knees. Looking back at the stricken sad Ayano, Miyuki did remember Ayano mentioning her goal of becoming a doctor. When was that conversation, weeks ago? They knew each other for such a short time? Anyways, Ayano was now staring at her bloodstained hands, shaking of course.

"He-I- he was losing too much blood. Those bugs attacked him and created dozens of open wounds around his body. His…you could see everything, like his muscles and skeleton. I didn't having any stitching equipment, so I tried to stop the bleeding, but…" Ayano couldn't continue. She placed her bloody palms onto her face, and began to bawl. Miyuki, listening to the horror Ayano was talking about, forgot about how Ayano looked and cradled her with her left arm. Ayano simply allowed Miyuki's arm to hug her, and proceeded to cry. Miyuki didn't know what to do with Ayano; it appears that she tried to save someone, but ended up failing to do so. Miyuki concluded that since Ayano didn't know much about the medical field yet, she was disappointed about failing, rather than crying over sadness. Looking back at the crowd, the people were still crying. Who died exactly?

"Ayano, I'm sorry if this is rude to ask, but can you tell me who d-died exactly?" Miyuki asked. Die, death, kill, killed, all those words seemed to be coming up a lot throughout the remaining students. Miyuki concluded that this might be their second day out in the void, so having deaths rise during the couple of days was overwhelming to the survivors. And if there are more bugs out in the world, and those guys with guns don't attempt to help them, they're all dead. Thinking to herself, she almost didn't catch Ayano's heavy breathing as she was about to answer.

"I-I don't even know his name, but from what I've heard, he was a popular 1st year student. That's why so many are crying. I-I'm so scared Miyuki. Do you think they hate me now?" Ayano said, sniffling a little as each word passed through her lips. Miyuki didn't really know how to answer her clearly. Surely, the 1st years were at least forgiving; Ayano did all she could do. But what if they were angry that he's dead? What if they believe that Ayano killed him? Miyuki definitely didn't watch too much television, but she did watch one particular show that had an episode similar to Ayano's problem. Hopefully, this doesn't end up like that, for Miyuki remembered the ending; the person (who's Ayano in this situation) was tar and feathered in front of everyone, and died shortly after. Miyuki gulped at the thought of Ayano being tarred and feathered. She quickly got the thought out of her mind; it was too unbearable to think about.

"D-don't worry Ayano. I believe that they will forgive you. You did all that you can, whereas no one else could do the same. Please, don't feel scared over it," Miyuki told her. Ayano's expression didn't change at all, though her face seemed to lighten up. Or was it the fire doing it?

"Thank you, Miyuki, but there's still something on my mind," she began. New tears replaced her others. This time, the tears weren't of frustration and fear, but rather sadness. Miyuki wondered what she was thinking about. Looking at her, Ayano continued. "Where's Misao-san and Minegishi-san? I've been looking for them for awhile now, and I can't seem to find them!" Ayano said, dramatically raising her hands up towards the air. Her tears now fell directly off her face. Once more, Miyuki didn't know how to answer her, so she said:

"They're probably alright. Misao-san's probably a part of the crowd, along with Minegishi-san," Miyuki said. That was all she could say, for there was no other way to continue, at least in her mind. If Miyuki remembered correctly, Minegishi-san was Ayano's boyfriend. Throughout this whole incident, he's been noticeably absent. Now thinking back at him, Miyuki grew angry. How could he just leave poor Ayano alone during this situation? She didn't even know what he looked like, but if he dared to walk in front of her, she will show him a true nightmare. It was rare for Miyuki to get angry like this, but then again, everyone was on edge.

So where does that leave Misao? Most of the bodies were already gone, and Hiyori probably forgot what most of them looked like, so it was unknown if she was already dead. There were the bodies attached to the roof, but none seemed to resemble the body of her fanged friend. All in all, it seemed that Misao wasn't in the gym. This made Miyuki wonder if there were more students out in the school. She couldn't fully remember what was going on during the fair, but she did remember seeing some students (mostly the troublemakers) staying behind in the classrooms. Perhaps Misao was one of them. No, that wouldn't make sense, for Misao was clearly there at the fair. She was the one who caused the domino effect on Nagaru, Patricia, and Kyon, which lead to them being here. Who knows, maybe she was dead.

_Dead? No, she's, Miyuki. Tsukasa-san is dead-oh god, Tsukasa-san is dead! No, she's not. Goddammit, shut up! She's dead, and Misao-san is dead! Everyone dies, okay? No, I can't accept that. Tsukasa…Misao…._

As her mind raced around, she didn't feel herself crying. She bent her head down and looked towards the ground, allowing the tears to slide directly off her baby-like face. This whole mess…why was it happening? Why them? Miyuki covered her face with her hands, allowing the clear, moist tears to cover her palms. Miyuki cried, yes, but never as hard as she was now. Ayano, looking at her dumbstruck, silently said "thank you" before getting up and walking away. Not feeling her presence anymore, Miyuki felt even guiltier.

_Look at me. I'm supposed to be the helper, not the crier. I have to cheer up._

But then another thought came to her. As she cried to herself, she suddenly realized how weak everyone was. Looking behind herself, she saw the crowd staying away from each other. Most have fallen asleep, while others sat in fetal position, awaiting something to happen. Looking at them, she realized that someone had to take charge of everyone. Without a leader, everyone was on edge, scared out of their wits. If no one acts soon, chaos will definitely ensue.

And Miyuki was the top candidate.

Sighing, she stood up, ready to yell to everyone. Due to her lack of knowledge over how to truly yell, she was just going to have to strain her vocal cords out. She had two goals: one easier than the other. Looking ahead towards the crowd, she coughed two times before speaking. One of her goals was to get everyone to cooperate with her.

The second, of course, was to fix the machine.

But once again, how do you fix a machine like that?

Coughing one more time, she opened her mouth and was ready to give her speech. However, the words spoken weren't the ones she planned to use. The words were slightly altered, giving the impression that Miyuki was highly religious. Then again, it wasn't even her voice speaking. No, it was him.

"Ladies and gents, God has given me the plan that just might save us all."

Everyone, including Miyuki stopped whatever they were doing as Justin walked ahead towards the crowd, his small group following close behind.

96 Students remaining 

4 adults remaining


	6. The Fear in Us All 3

_Day 02_

_Ryoo High_

_Gymnasium_

_Soon to be Federation Territory_

_96 students remaining_

_4 adults remaining _

_Yutaka_

Before Justin made his speech, he sat alone, reading the bible. He expected to be left alone, but sooner than he expected a fellow student walked towards him. The others told her to stay away from the zealot, for they believed that the foreign was a "bad" person. Most of the students came to a mutual agreement that Justin was not the person you should be hanging out with. Everyone was officially afraid of him, though not because of his prophetic talk and commending Japan into hell. No, they were afraid of him because many started to view him as…right. After he mentioned that they were in hell, things just happened to everyone, and it seemed to be like flying proof, trying to get in front of their faces: First Tsukasa's death, then the flying bugs, and now, people getting sick. It was as if the dark one himself was helping them realize that the zealot sitting on the cool, bloody bleachers over there was the correct one. Did they really deserve this?

One of the girls, Yutaka, was thinking this over. She did remember seeing Justin in the hallway, usually causing a nuisance to everyone in the surrounding region. Before this whole incident even occurred, Yutaka didn't believe a single word uttered from his mouth. His voice was like their emperor's, strong-willed and clear. Yet where the emperor was more kind hearted, Justin's was darker and deep. Just hearing his words made her shake in fear. But once all of the bugs left the area, and once people began to get sick, she started to feel that Justin might know a thing or two. Does she view him as a friend now? Hell no, he's still a creep who keeps his nose in a bible all day! But what if he knew the way out of here? Maybe he knew the way out of this "hell" and back into the real world.

Now she stood aghast before him, sweating like crazy. Her tiny, frail body made her look like a child in elementary school, but she still sweat just like girls her age. Standing next to Justin almost made her heart stop. Even at standing next to him, literally almost at breathing distance, he never looked up. His eyes cling like ivy, stared directly at the yellowish pages, silently mouthing the words presented before him. God, the only thing scarier than listening to his voice was not hearing him speak at all. He had this strange aura around him that made anything around him scared, including poor innocent Yutaka.

Not wanting to stay in the silent void forever, Yutaka stretched her hand out and was about to touch his shoulder, when she heard him saw a strange phrase:

"The will of our brothers be done."

"W-what?"

For some reason, he spoke English to himself, saying something Yutaka couldn't understand. She understood the first two words, but the rest was strange and foreign to her mind. Justin did say something, but what Yutaka didn't understand was whether he was talking to her or talking to himself. Concerning how he didn't notice her before probably meant that he was speaking to himself. However, once he raised his eyes toward her, she understood that Justin probably noticed her a long time ago.

"What do you want? Go back and speak with your friends. I'm sure that the darkness will have his way with them soon," Justin said to her, chuckling to himself. Yutaka bit her lip, feeling the fear coursing through her frigid body. She just wanted to speak to him. Speak to him…

"Um… Mr. Justin-san…"

"You Japs don't deserve to call me by my name!"

"Well, okay! Anyways, um… I've been thinking, and… your theory that we are in…hell… I think its right…"

It felt very embarrassing to say. She wasn't the best with talking with any type of foreigners (with the exception of Patricia), and Justin was simply the hardest to talk to. He gave you a menacing look, and you'll feel like the end of the world was dawning over the horizon. Holding her head down in defeat, Yutaka waited for the zealot to make a comeback. Will he smack her with the bible like he did with Kagami-sempai? Or maybe he will curse her name?

No. Justin stood up, and looked towards the ceiling. He had a terrible grin on his face as he looked up at the remains of the dead bodies on the ceiling, picked away by the flying creatures. He then looked down at Yutaka, still having that grin on his face.

"So, you do believe my words, child?" he said. While Yutaka did start believing his words, she still wanted to punch him in the face. He was talking to her like she was of a lower tier than him. Asshole Americans…

Not waiting for her to reply, Justin walked off the bleacher he was sitting on and looked down at Yutaka, who was trying to keep her emerald-eyes off of him. He was too menacing to her. Scoffing, He said "Well, at least one of you is smart. Perhaps you Japs have a chance to survive after all." Walking around her, Yutaka had to hold back the tears she was holding in since she was here with him. Why, of all people, was he the one that she believed in?

"Well…Ju-I mean, mister, I'm not the only one. There are a couple of others. Th-they just wanted me to talk to you," Yutaka said, closing her eyes, not wanting to hear what he had to say. Justin turned his back towards her, and looked at the crowd. Indeed, the young frail girl was correct; there were some people looking at him in confusion. There was an empty spot on the ground between two of them, so Justin concluded that that group was where Yutaka spawned from. Snickering, he turned back to Yutaka.

"Alright, get them then. I want to have a little talk with all of you," he said, straightening his blazer. Yutaka looked at him confused, but then ran towards her group once more. He couldn't hear any word that the little girl was saying, but whatever she was saying, the group sitting down quickly rose to their feet. Most of them looked tired and afraid, while others looked pissed off and ready to kill. Counting, there were at least 10 of them coming towards him. Trying to look cool, he sat back down on the bloody bleacher and opened up the bible once more. However, he paid no heed to the words Jesus was speaking now, for the group finally stood before him, looking very anxious.

"I-I brought them like you asked," Yutaka said, trying to hold up a smile. However, the others weren't as cheerful and hopeful like Yutaka, so all of their emotions were completely wiped out during the incident. She just wanted everyone to be happy, but it appears that that simple job was now almost impossible. Justin looked up at the group and studied them. She was awaiting a stupid retort from him, but like the previous times, he neither spoke nor stood. He just glanced at them, looking at each of them up and down. _Why is he…_ Yutaka thought to herself. At first, she felt that he was checking them all out in that type of sense, but that wouldn't make sense, for a couple of people in Yutaka's group were boys, and she could've sworn that strict religious people couldn't like people of the same sex. God, this was all confusing.

Finally, Justin relinquished his post on the bleacher and stood facing them, still holding the bible in one hand. Without a second's hesitation, Justin powdered them with a strange substance, making the entire crowd cough around him. All Justin did was smile.

"W-what was that for, you jerk?!" One boy yelled. Sighing along with cursing under his breath, Justin looked at the boy and, like Yutaka envisioned, smacked him across the face with the bible. The boy fell quickly towards the ground, a fresh bruise being formed on his right cheek. Justin laughed at the pitiful sight before him.

"Just making sure you're not a hell spawn. Since none of you are going into an odious rage, I guess all of you are speaking the truth?" he asked, aiming his chin at the group of students before him. The boy on the ground was about to get up and tackle the zealot, but Yutaka stepped in front of him. If he was that type of guy, he would've brought Yutaka down with him, but he knew he couldn't harm a little girl like her. Yutaka looked up at Justin's pale-blue eyes, showing a nightmarish satisfaction towards the group. Yutaka couldn't see the strange thoughts playing in his mind at that moment.

She was going to regret sooner or later.

"Please, we just want to know what to do now! Out of everyone, you seemed to be the one with a plan, so we came to you. Please, help us?" Yutaka asked. Justin once again stared at the girl presented before him. He had a major laugh in his throat, and wanted to laugh in her face to show his superiority over the Japanese, but just seeing her puppy-dog eyes made him halt his decision. Like everyone else, you can't stay mad or make fun of Yutaka. She was too kind, and though Justin knew she was Japanese, he just couldn't bring himself to laugh. Instead, he looked at the rest of the crowd, studying their features. Most were boys, two were second year girls, and one other was the young girl he spotted talking with Kagami while everyone was discussing the outdoors. She looked just like Yutaka, but had slightly more greenish hair and slanted eyes. For some reason, the once religious zealot who hated all things Japanese was becoming very emotional. Must have been a strange feeling passing by in his mind…

"Hm, alright…I'll help you, if you help me. Help me, and your sins just might be forgiven by the almighty ruler of light. Got that?" He said. Yutaka and the others nodded their heads rather sheepishly, as if they were hypnotized by his religious speech. Opening up his bible, he began to chant a phrase.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Looking at the crowd annoyingly, he added: "Repeat after me!" Getting everyone startled, they all pressed their hands together, and repeated the line he spoke. Yutaka felt uncomfortable repeating the semi-translated line from the bible. Just the tone the line gave kind of spooked her out.

"For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."

The others repeated.

"And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified."

The group once again repeated, this time with more feeling. Yutaka couldn't understand what was going on, but the group felt like god was with them.

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen."

The others repeated, happily repeating the lines through their lips. Before, they said the lines hesitant and without feeling; now, they enjoyed the comforting lines; all except Yutaka, who felt that something was just…off. _This isn't correct, why are we happy all of a sudden. Is he…hypnotizing us?_ She thought. It sounded like a stupid thought, but the way Justin was reciting the lines and how everyone got swooned by them made it all seem suspicious. Keeping her head low, she waited for the zealot to continue.

"Children, all of your sins have been forgiven by our lord. Now, you are all part of the New Order of Hope," he said, smiling cheerfully. Yutaka had a weird feeling welding up inside of her, feeling that she shouldn't stay with the zealot. For some reason, he was talking too calmly, and he mentioned something odd. The New Order of Hope? What the hell was that? Was that some type of church? Why would he mention a church's name? That just seemed too odd to her. Yet somehow no one else felt odd about the situation. In fact, as what Yutaka observed, everyone looked please and satisfied with the words Justin spoke. Didn't they just hate him a couple of seconds ago?

Resting the bible back onto the ground, he looked around at the students who haven't followed Yutaka. Sure, there were probably 80-something of them, but Justin seemed to have more confidence than before. "Alright, follow my lead, everyone," he said. Yutaka was ready to see everyone ask why, but she never saw it. Instead, everyone did as they were told and followed Justin towards the larger crowd of students. Gulping, Yutaka did the only thing she could do and followed suit. She felt sick in the stomach, and her eyes were tearing up.

Was this the right thing to do?

_Konata_

Throughout the bug attack, Konata was barely breathing as she lay motionless on the ground. What caused her to go down so quickly was a mystery to everybody, but that didn't matter anymore. She was awake, and all she knew now was the nightmare that plagued her as she slept. It was discomforting and abnormal like Ayano's, though both showed differences. It's hard to remember your dreams since people have rapidly changing minds, but in this instant, Konata remembered everything clearly. It was like the dream she just experienced wasn't really a dream, but a message. A message for what exactly?

_The cool, desolate land lay before her. The sky was pitch-black, with the slight exception of a heavenly-blue aura protruding down the center of the sky towards the horizon. The land, if you can call it that, was a perfect black color, with slight points sticking out from the damned dirt. If these points didn't exist, you can call the land a simple flat. The dark land stretched out to the ends of the world, making a dim but somewhat lighted horizon. Though no trees were present, a slight breeze blew about, having the ability to freeze those with cold-hearts._

_ Yet Konata didn't feel a thing. She stood in the middle of the flatland, trying to comprehend where in God's name she was. She didn't feel the grainy floor crushed under her feet, nor did the breeze send chills down her spine. If she knew where she was, she would call this place paradise like no other. But, that question filled with wonder perplexed her deeply, and she couldn't focus her liking on anything. _

_ Not even knowing that she was moving her legs, Konata walked forward. There was no clearly defined path, yet she felt like she knew where she was going. The bluish color of the sky did light her path, though she wished it lit up the whole area. She knew she was tripping at points, but she didn't feel her legs giving in. She saw her hair being brushed by the cool air, yet she didn't feel it. Nothing around her hurt her, nor did anything on her. In this place, she concluded, she was invincible._

_ But one thing did hurt, though she couldn't decipher what it was. Her body didn't hurt, and her mind was functioning normally, but something just didn't seem right with her. Was it a feeling of some sorts? No, that wasn't it. Maybe it was just the feeling of wondering? No, not that. Was something missing?_

_ Konata stopped for a second, trying to figure out what could be missing. She had her clothes on, and her hair wasn't disheveled, so nothing seemed missing. Where was she before? Home? School? For some reason, she couldn't remember such a basic memory. She decided to try and retrace the memory. She remembered an essay, so school was probably the choice. Then again, she might've just been thinking about it, and decided to walk out of her house. She clutched her hair and fell to the floor, ignoring the points in the ground. All of a sudden nothing made sense anymore. Thinking about this just made her tired and worn out, and she sighed as the wind blew past her face. What ever happened to the thing they called logic?_

_ Without even seeing the heavenly hands descending towards her, she was suddenly lifted off of the lifeless floor and tossed forward. Even with the sudden burst of air brushing against her, she still didn't feel it. What was missing from her? She desperately tried to turn her neck, but she felt like stone as she was thrown towards the horizon. While the land was definitely the same as the one she was just on, this patch felt more different somehow. For the first time in this dream, Konata began to feel fear. Why fear exactly? Was it because no one was around? Maybe the area scared her? Can anyone out there provide an answer?_

_ All so suddenly, she was back on the ground, panting for the air that just passed by her. Her eyes were slits by the time her head collided with the ground. Even while she was in a dream, she was sleepy. All the thoughts about where she was were lost in the void stretching around her figure. Now she had to rest._

_ At least that's what she wanted most._

_ As her eyes began to close, she saw in the distance a man in what appeared to be a traditional Hakama. Who still wore those things? Konata snickered to herself as the man drew closer to her, and she began to drift into a slumber inside her dream. However, the man was, in reality, closer than she once thought, and he quickly yanked her off of the ground. Feeling her head touching air, Konata opened her eyes slowly, and was greeted by an ugly face. Old, yet young._

_ "Child, why do you rest here?"_

_ Konata shook her head, trying to lose the sight of the man. He looked…odd for a person. His eyes, soulless yet lively, stared right through her, never leaving her own. She shook around, but felt the strong grasp of the man's hand holding her. In life, she was definitely stronger than the average gal, but for some reason, she couldn't even twitch a muscle to fight the man's grasp. He felt her struggle, and laughed cold-hearted whilst looking at the floor. Why not the sky?_

_ "Follow me, Child. I can help you," he said. Konata really didn't know if he was speaking the truth, for he still held her against her own free will. Sighing, she stopped struggling and allowed the man to carry forward. He said he can help her. Wait, for what? Great, now she couldn't remember that!_

_ Even though the man never moved, they suddenly teleported to an all new place that Konata never seen before. Like the flats that she stood in before, the ground was dark and pointy, yet the ground looked new and never trampled on by feet. What was more confusing, the ground or the whole logic behind where she is and who the man is? Either one made her mind spin in circles. All she wanted was out of this…whatever this place was._

_ Next thing she knew, the man was forcing her back onto the ground. Konata didn't need to feel the pain of impact to know that the man was probably going to do something bad to her. Though she was on the ground face down, she managed to look at the man's face. "W-what are you doing?" she asked. The man's face was definitely different. He wasn't old yet young anymore. No, he was just old, and his grin, Oh, his grin, stretched from one corner of his mouth to the other. His teeth, although perfectly aligned and white, were parted to allow his serpent like tough to exit his lips. Konata didn't know it yet, but she did feel fear here. If she remembered correctly, this man looked just like a villain from one of those horror manga she used to read back when she was young. What was it, again?_

_ The man seemed to hiss at her, making Konata more frightened. Tightening his hold on her, he said "Listen to me, child, if you want this to end easily, stop struggling. All of this and all of your memories will soon be forgotten," he said to her, allowing his tongue to overlap his speech. Konata felt his arm crushing her, pushing her deep into the ground. What was he planning? It terrified her. She was terrified, unaware of what was about to come._

_ As his hand pushed her deeper into the ground, Konata began to feel once more. She felt the coldness of the ground, the chill of the man's hand, and the dirt caressing her skin. It all seemed too unreal to her, but somehow, she was feeling it all. This couldn't have been a dream. If it was, how was she feeling everything? She wanted to scream, but she ended up suppressing it, as the man began to laugh._

_ In less than a second, Konata felt the dirt receding, and she felt like she was dangling. How was that possible? You can't just dangle over air underground? Good god, this is the worst logic she ever faced. However, her feeling was truthful, as she found herself dangling over the open abyss. This time, the man's arm started to release her, and Konata felt herself slipping downwards to the void below her. She began to grab hold of his hand as she twisted around, but the man's hands felt like ice, and she felt her own grasp slipping._

_ "Give up, Konata. Please just accept your fate, and all of your worries will be forever lost."_

_ She felt herself falling closer down, and she knew that she couldn't hang any longer. If nothing could save her, she was as good as dead._

_ "Get away from her!"_

_ Konata began to hear screams emitting from the ground above her, though she wasn't able to recognize the voice._

_ "Goddammit, get her out of there!"_

_ "And what if I don't want to?"_

_ "Why are you doing this?"_

_ "Hey, I'm just saving her. Do you really want her back in that school?"_

_ Konata didn't know what the hell they were saying, but she was hoping that they would get her out of here. Already, three of her fingers slipped from the hands, and she couldn't place them back on. _

_ Then she felt herself being lifted up. While the ride was bumpy, she felt herself at ease as she left the void. The dirt smeared all over her hair, rubbing against her face and clothing, emitting a sort of cool blast onto her figure. It wasn't natural (then again, this whole place wasn't natural), but she felt like the dirt was screaming at her, and she could've sworn she had blood covering her eyes. Yet that didn't make sense. Perhaps it was an echo she heard, or maybe she just imagined it, and maybe the blood she thought was on her was just some dirt that was almost mud._

_ Shortly, she was out of the damned ground, and back on top of the surface, still being held via her back by the strange man. His face still had the same features, yet this time he gave no smile, not even one that was menacing. Instead he looked towards the horizon with a death-like glare, twitching both of his eyes. Konata, while still looking towards the ground, was able to tilt her head up to look forward. Oh, was she glad to look forward._

_ There, standing about two feet away was her mother, just like she saw her back when they were scavenging the hallways. She then suddenly remembered those hallways, and her small group, and being trapped in the school, and Tsukasa…_

_ Konata shook her head, trying to hold back the tears building in the back of her eyes. All of the memories came back way too quickly, and it simply exploded her emotions. While she did want to cry, both for the loss of her friend and the fact that her mother stood before her and the man, she couldn't even attempt to let the emotions out, so she simply stayed hanging from the man's hand like a paper-bag. _

_ The man's mouth began to twitch around crazily. "A'right, she's up. Are you really sure you want her alive to experience that hell-hole?"_

_ Konata's mother straightened out her white dress (it was like a summer dress, just going over her knees) and proceeded to walk forward towards the man. His expression remained the same, and he simply allowed her to come close. Konata looked at her mother's face, and her expression, regardless of how she was acting, showed fear. Konata was an expert at knowing how people felt, for playing all those gal-games made her know how everyone's face showed how they felt at the moment. _

_ Sneering, he said "You know her, Kanata? She seems to know you." Konata felt her neck go stiff as she looked up at him, confused as to why he sounded angry. He used to sound calm, yet now he sounded like he was going to kill someone. Did he hate her mother? Feeling her veins sticking through her skin, Konata forcibly forced her head back to looking down. God, if she could get out of his grasp, she would definitely kill him._

_ No holding back, of course._

_ However, Kanata didn't reply, but instead lifted her arm towards them, waving her index finger around in an infinity-symbol motion. "Let her go, now. I command you!" Kanata said, growing angrier by the second. Konata never really saw her mom since she died when Konata was young, but she remembered stories told by her father, and he always said that no matter what, Kanata never got angry. Yet here we are, with Kanata frowning and her eyes fueled with rage._

_ Then the man threw Konata down to the ground._

_ "Fine, but don't come crying to me when she's out there, being killed by those fun little creatures," he said. Finally, he smiled, showing his perfect, non-crooked teeth. He looked back down at Konata. "I'm so sorry that you're going to die out there, but she wanted to do this." With that being said, he suddenly faded from the land, being replaced with the chilling, desolate air, leaving Konata and Kanata alone._

_ Immediately, once he vanished, Konata rose from the ground and embraced her late mother. She never was able to do such a thing, and now she didn't want this opportunity to end. Oh, how many things she wanted to tell her, how many arguments to be made with her, how many secrets she wanted to tell her._

_ How many things…_

_ "Mom! Oh god, it really is you!" Konata cheered, feeling the heavenly warmth of her body on her. Konata let all of her worries out of her mind, and only allowed her feelings of happiness to remain. She didn't question how her mom got here alive, of course, yet she didn't care anymore. As long as she was here, Konata had nothing to worry about._

_ Only thing was, Kanata didn't embrace her daughter back. Instead, she pulled away from her daughter and looked directly into her eyes._

_ "Konata, I know you missed me, and I missed you too, but now's not the time for remembrance."_

_ Immediately Konata slapped her mother across the face. True, it was definitely not the right thing to do to your parent, but Konata's excuse would be that she was frustrated that she didn't see her mother in such a long time, and now felt rejected that she didn't want her to miss her. "What do you mean? Do you know how much I wanted to see you?" Konata said, feeling more tears in her eyes. While she did hide this fact (hid it pretty well, actually), she still wanted to see her mom very bad._

_ Kanata tried to smile as best as she could and said "I know you're angry, but we can't meet here. I want you to meet me in the boiler room in the school." She coughed a little bit as she knew that her time was limited now._

_ "Um, okay, but I saw a couple of people die out in the halls. I really don't want to say this to you but…I'm scared," Konata replied. She felt her face growing hot, and she knew that she was blushing, right in front of her mom. It was embarrassing to admit, but she hated blushing in front of anyone._

_ "It's alright, you will be protected, but please be safe from anything else. Oh, one more thing…" Kanata began. She never again mentioned that "anything else" for being safe, but Konata never asked. She will experience that "anything else" very soon, don't doubt me on that._

_ Not hearing an answer, Kanata continued. "Please find Misao. It's important that she is found. If you don't find her, nothing, not anyone, will be safe. Got me?" she said._

_ "Wait, why Misao?" Konata answered rather quickly. Kanata sighed._

_ "You just have to-"_

_ As she spoke, a light, similar to the one that swallowed Ryoo High engulfed the land. The dark plains turned into dust, and the sky turned to red, before turning extremely bright of course. Kanata took one last look at her daughters face, knowing that she wasn't going to see her for a long time._

_ "Remember, find Misao. I love you."_

_ "What?" Konata questioned before the light engulfed her._

Now she sat down on the gym floor, feeling petrified over her so-called dream. Though she tried to forget about most of it, it will never leave the vicinity of her mind. Her head hurt, and she felt that same red substance that sprayed over her face during the dream on her hands. Looking down, she saw her hands, all bloody, with distinct slash marks around her wrists. Wait, she didn't cut herself; what, exactly, cut into her wrists?

Lifted her eyes up, she looked around the gym, and was surprised to see that most of the students were gone. Weren't there at least 100 of them beforehand? Now only 40-something remained, all still confused and scared. She saw some bodies lying on the ground, all lined up parallel to each other. She saw some of her friends, like Miyuki and Kagami, sitting around the machine that brought them here.

Lifting her feet up, she walked over to them, igniting fearful stares towards her. Unbeknownst to her, everyone was secretly scared for her. Konata was a person that most wouldn't hang around with, but she was a pretty funny girl in final. Having her die was like having the class clown get in trouble. Without her, no fun can be made in a bad time like this.

Kagami noticed her first, and stood up, surprised. "K-Konata, you're awake!" Kagami exclaimed, running towards her blue-haired friend and hugging her. Konata, being the wise cracker she is, snickered a little.

"Aw, did my Kagami miss me?" she said, trying to hold back her laughter. Kagami ripped her away and glared deeply into Konata's eyes, making Konata have a more serious face.

"I'll pretend you didn't say that. Are you alright?" Kagami asked. Konata felt her forehead, trying to pretend that she was seriously hurt.

"Yeah, I think I have a concussion. Oh, I feel sooo woozy!" Konata said, pretending to stumble around like she was drunk. Kagami attempted to keep a serious look, but couldn't help but laugh at her friend joking around. Deep down, Kagami liked when Konata was like this, and at a time like this, she was glad she was just alright. However, she quickly placed a serious look on her face once more.

"Konata, it seems that most left with that Justin kid out to the auditorium. I'm sorry, but they took Yutaka with them," Kagami said, looking rather sad. Konata felt like she was suddenly punched in the chest, and lurched backwards. Yutaka was gone? What did she mean she was taken? Did they hurt her? Oh, if Konata found out that they hurt her, she would definitely kill them.

No holding back, of course.

Instead of showing that she was angry, she placed a fresh yet painful smile on her face. "Don't worry, I think I can fix that," Konata said, trying to hold her fist down. Kagami looked at her funny, confused as to why Konata was acting neutral to the news.

"Y-You can fix this? Please explain how," Kagami said perplexed. Konata folded her arms up and turned her back away towards Kagami.

"It's simple. I just have to find Misao," she said. Before Kagami could reply, Konata was well on her way towards a crowd of people, who gently accepted her in. No matter what happens, Konata will find Misao and fix this. If her mother wanted her to do this, then she shall. She will fix this, meet her mother once more, and fight off anyone who gets in her way.

No holding back, of course.

_Misao_

_Prior to Konata's awakening_

"Why am I cold?"

Like she was before, Misao was in another place foreign to her. What used to be the damned halls with a destroyed room turned into pool was now replaced with a well furnished room, with dozens of western-like lamps dotting the area. She found herself sitting on a rocking chair in the middle of the room, isolated from everything else. She was awfully glad that light was here, for walking through a school's basement in the dark with nothing but a lantern was pretty piss-poor, if you ask her.

But two things struck her oddly. One, her body was still wounded, and she felt the air running through the gaping hole in the middle of her chest (_Dear lord, how am I alive?) _She saw her crushed organs, and hell, even lower half of her ribs. She felt like she was ready to spew, but thinking about at first, throwing up with crushed organs wouldn't be the safest thing to do. Then again, having crushed organs wasn't safe in the first place.

The second thing was why she was so cold. There was nothing that could make her cold. The room looked well heated, and the roof…

Misao felt a small drop on her hair. Looking up, she noticed that there was no roof, and snow gently fell towards the room. Most of the time, the snow gently dissipated when it reached the ground, but there were some thick ones that reached the floor, making a pile of snow, mostly in the corners. Why was it snowing? Where was the roof? Where is she?

Wanting to get away from the falling precipitation, Misao attempted to stand up from the chair, but once she began to stand, shrieks of pain filled her, and she ended up screaming, forcing herself to sit back down. She's been hurt many times before, but this felt all of those times plus 1,000. As long as it hurt, she wouldn't be able to stand up. Then again, she wouldn't have to.

"Please don't scream, Misao."

Misao's eyes widened as she heard a voice. She hadn't heard another voice in awhile, and hearing this one made her completely shocked. It sounded so heavenly, yet at the same time so serious. Who knows, maybe the voice had some answers.

"Who…are you? Where are you?" Misao said less than one breath. She started to feel scared, feeling what was left of her pores releasing sweat. She was confined to her seat with incisions covering her abdomen, trapped in an odd, foreign room with snow coming down on her, and a looming voice coming any of the thousands of directions this place held. Boy, it was official: God hated her.

"Please be quiet, we can't be heard by anyone."

Misao still felt angry, yet now felt overwhelmed with anger. If she wanted to scream, she could scream. No foreign voice will stop her. Still, she felt uncomfortable with the voice, and until she knows who it was, she was going to refrain from speaking. The voice will reveal itself sooner or later. It just had to.

The voice walked through the main door imperceptibly to Misao, still having a smile on her face. From the vantage point, all she could see was Misao's hair, which still looked horrible messed up. The voice sighed, and decided to walk right in front of Misao's viewpoint. Either way, she was going to give the short-brown-haired girl a requisition, and hopefully she will cooperate.

Now the voice stood in front of Misao, who grew alarmed with surprise. She saw this person before; back in the halls, the person who kept fleeing from her. Now Misao was completely angry, forgetting all of those fearful emotions. "You again? Who the fuck are you?" Misao screeched, trying to contain herself, but failing. This person looked just like Konata, yet just had a feature or two different from her. Hell, give this person an ahoge, and you will have Chibikko. Still though, something about her…

"I asked you, who the-"

"Please calm down. Let me explain myself."

Misao pouted and pushed her back against the chair, feeling intense pain from her open wound. So a blue-haired lady who looks just like Konata is talking to her in a strange cabin with no roof and no other visible signs of life. Crazy, eh?

"Misao, I've been observing you for some time, and I must say this to you…are sad?"

Misao gave her a perplexed look. She came in here to ask if she was feeling sad. It was a question that Misao had a hard time answering. Yes, it was a stupid question, but she couldn't the right words to say. Was she sad? If so, why? Of course though, she did have those memories in the back of her head, those damned memories. Maybe that was what this person was referring to? _Wait, how would she know about them? Good god, can she read my mind?_

"Um…yeah, I guess," Misao answered. The spirit smiled and placed her hand on Misao's left shoulder. She was still pissed off at the spirit, but for some reason, Misao felt very soothed and relaxed once that hand touched her. The pain that was hurting since she tried to stand up was gone. But, one question still remained.

"You never answered me. Who are you, and where are we?" Misao asked. The spirit smiled once more, still having her hand on Misao's shoulder.

"I'm Kanata, Konata's mother."

Misao was quite shocked when she heard this. It was true that Kanata looked just like her daughter, but Misao originally believed that fact to just being a coincidence. Now that she knew the truth, Misao didn't know how to react. She remembered hearing from Kagami that the shrimp's mom died when she was young, yet here she was. Then again, Misao's dead too, or at least closest to being dead.

"Oh…" was all Misao could say. She suddenly felt the soothing pain leaving her, replaced with antagonizing pain. Misao jolted around in her seat, trying to hold back the screams. It was like that fish-like creature was drilling her stomach again, though this time she actually felt it. She began to clutch her stomach-area, not remembering that a hole was still there. Her hands fell in them, and she suddenly got even more afraid. No, not because her hands were inside of her, but because she felt things forming up. Quickly taking her hands out and quickly attempting to see what was going on, she stared in shock and awe at what was happening.

Inside the hole, the organs that were crushed and beaten to pieces were forming up again. Her stomach, her…liver? (She was never good at human science, so she didn't know what was forming inside of her) Everything was forming, causing her pain as each one sprouted threads (_veins, right?_) around each organ. Finally, as everything was now completed, her skin and muscle started to cover the hole, making Misao want to puke. How the hell did this all happen? Was it because Kanata touched her on the shoulder?

As quickly as it came, it was over, and Misao was able to see her actual abdomen without a gaping abyss inside of her. True, there was a small scar, but Misao preferred scars on her body; the more tough you look, the better friends you get. Well, that was what she believed. Now Misao darted her eyes towards the angelic women, who still smiled, even though Misao was giving her a death glare. Her hand was off of her, leaving Misao with a cold and lifeless feeling on her shoulder. She was angry at the woman, we already established that, yet for some reason, she was actually happy this person was around.

Why?

"Misao, forgive me for that, but it was the only thing I could do in order to get you healed. Are you alright?" Kanata asked passionately. Misao gloomily looked at her eyes, as if to say_ No, I feel like shit, and I wish I knew where the hell I am and why you're here._ Sadly though, eyes can't speak, so instead of speaking her mind, she chose to remain quiet, and answered with a slight nod of the head.

"Well then, please stand up. We have some time before you awaken," Kanata said. With a slight raise of her hand, she somehow lifted Misao off of her seat. Misao screamed as her body rose up to standing position, yet suddenly silenced herself as Kanata frowned at her.

"Um, okay then…can you explain anything?" Misao asked the spirit, lifting her arms up above her head. Good lord, getting answers these days is like finding the Holy Grail; it'll never happen. This scenario was no exception.

"In due time, Misao. In due time," Kanata said. With another swish of her hand, the two began to walk out of the room.

The two of them walked throughout the plain and snowy valley. Misao was freezing to death out in the open, but she didn't want to say anything to Kanata, since she didn't want to be the complaining type (she complained a lot before, but she didn't notice.) The valley stretched on forever, and the two of them definitely did not cover a lot of ground, but Misao didn't feel the least bit tired.

As they walked through the hellish land, the two of them talked. Misao was getting bored, so she started up various topics, like when did you die and what your favorite color is (Misao felt awkward switching between deep to ridiculous conversations.) Kanata always answered her with a usual two to three word answer, before going back to silent mode.

But then Kanata asked a deep question to Misao.

"Tell me, Misao, do you hate your parents?" Kanata asked. Misao stopped dead in her tracks, a cold sweat evolving around her skin. She was waiting for this person to speak up about it, but she didn't want it to happen at the same time. Another thing bugging her was why Kanata asked her this question. It could be because Kanata was once a mother herself, but that seemed highly unlikely._ Does she…does she know?_ Misao pondered to herself. However, she once again didn't say what she was thinking, and instead showed hostility.

"Y-yeah, I do. Why wouldn't I? A kid's supposed to love their parents, not hate them!" Misao yelled. In reality, she wanted to cry, admit that she was angry at them, and try to seek comfort. Kanata was a mother, so maybe she could've helped, but Misao couldn't say it. Still though, Kanata had no right to ask the question.

"I see. Misao, if you ever need me, please call out for me," Kanata said, now looking at her with pleading eyes. Misao's face loosened up, and her face showed no emotion. Kanata looked way too much like her daughter, and for some reason Misao felt sort of bad for her. Konata wasn't really a friend to her, but she never realized that even though her parents were terrible at their job, she at least still had them. Konata grew up without a mom. Yet here was Misao, having somewhat of a conversation with chibikko's mother, while Konata was probably screaming for her late mother. Misao began to feel wetness in her eyes, but she shrugged off the feeling.

"Anyways, Misao, I need to tell you something. Once you wake up, find my daughter. It's essential to getting everyone out of that school. Please remember to do that," Kanata said in a pleading voice. Misao nodded, trying not to speak since her voice might choke. Wait, why her daughter? Misao had to ask her, but another question slipped from her lips. It was true, her voice did choke.

"What about those creatures?"

"Don't worry about it. I left something for you once you wake up. Use it, and get to the top floor. Any other questions?"

_Ask goddammit!_

Misao really wanted to ask her, but she couldn't move her mouth. Why, of all times, did she feel like her mouth was frozen?

"Alright, you'll be waking up now. Please remember to call for me."

Misao felt the coldness leaving her body, and now she felt a sudden warmth as light bathed her body. She felt her legs getting wobbly and her head getting light. In a couple of seconds, she will fall asleep here and wake up in the real world. She had to ask now, or she'll never be able to (she didn't think for a second about calling for her.)

But once again, another question slipped out.

"What are you, an angel?"

Kanata snickered at the question. A lot of people mistook her identity for an angel. "Well, some call me a valkyrie," she answered.

"What?" Misao asked before landing on the cool ground.

_General_

_Prior to Konata's awakening_

"Ladies and gents, God has given me the plan that just might save us all."

Everyone, including Miyuki stopped whatever they were doing as Justin walked ahead towards the crowd, his small group following close behind. He held his trademark bible in his left hand, and in his right he was holding the little girl's hand from before. She was somewhat grinning, though in the bleak lighting no one could actually see it. Yutaka and the others followed close behind them.

Yamato looked at them and smirked. "Really boy, you believe "God" gave you a plan?" she said, still not showing any sign of emotion. Justin kept his face cool and frightening.

"Yes, as of matter of fact, he has. God chosen me to be his messenger, and wanted me to make his plan work," he said, smiling. Kagami was the next to speak up.

"Well, what's the plan? If it's good, I actually might like you," she said, obviously lying. In reality, after getting smacked and being called a whore in hell, she couldn't care less for the American.

"It's simple, really. First, I must do this!"

It was kind of odd how the next scene went on, for no one, not even the ones who were actually looking up, could explain how it happened. Justin pulled out an angle shaped object and pointed at those who were coughing and wheezing. All of them still had the blood of the creatures on them, quite possibly making them sick. It was scary for them, but not as scary as the angle shaped object staring at them. If you listen closely, you could hear their screams before being silenced for the last time. Kagami and Yutaka were the closest to him, and they didn't hear the strange bang that followed the sparks. The bodies of those that were sick squirmed as their bodies were pierced with foreign objects that no one should feel. Short cries came from each of them, before they entered their eternal slumber. Once all of that was over, everyone's head slowly turned to Justin's hand.

The gun in his hand was the same one Kyon used before "offing" himself.

"You son of a bitch! You killed her! You killed my girl!" a boy yelled, jumping through the crowd. He shoved everyone in his way straight to the ground, saving their lives. Once he came into Justin's view, he felt the same foreign objects penetrating his skin. Crimson colored liquid flowed from his new wound and mouth, and his eyes rolled back into his head as another bullet landed in between his eyes. His head twisted around funny, and his tongue rolled freely around outside of his mouth. In just a few seconds, his body was sprawled out on the floor, a red pool of liquid forming below him.

"Anyone else want to testify against the almighty power of the lord?" Justin yelled, aiming the gun at the group of students. Not wanting to end up like the boy, the group remained silent, and opened their eyes in order to listen.

"Good. As I was saying, only the strong can survive, and those that were sick had to be shot. God does not allow those that are stricken with the plaque to walk on his land," Justin said, ignoring the "You're a monster!" yell made from Hiyori. As long as that gun remained in his hands, he was the boss.

"Now, I already have some followers, and those that won't follow me will die here in the arms of the dark lord. My followers, including me, will be brought back to the living world, and we will live in the arms of the saint," Justin yelled, still holding his arm out with the gun positioned still at the group. He now had a ferocious grin, showing his yellowing teeth. If the light was adequate, you could see his face slightly disfigured, as his muscles weren't used to making him grin for such a long time. If he really was God's spokesman, than God picked the ugliest-when-smiling one.

"Now hold on just a minute there!"

Everyone turned their attention to Patricia, who stood tall amongst the crouching students. Her eye appeared to be twitching as she looked at the other American, who only smirked at her. Oh, if only you could read minds, then you could actually see how much chaos was running throughout Patricia's mind.

"What can you possibly be planning? Killing everyone that's showing a sign of sickness? That's just crazy and cruel! Are you planning on escaping this joint? Yeah, good luck with that!" Patricia continued, before finally seating herself on the ground. She covered her head with her hands, trying to block out what she just saw. At least seven students bit the dust right in front of her, three from her grade, with one being from her homeroom. Kind girl she was. Now she was just a lifeless shell lying on the cool floor, a scarlet puddle cradling her from the rubbery surface. If Patricia could recall correctly, she worked with the girl on several group projects, and she was pretty smart and popular. Now she was nothing, just a waste of human life.

And Justin killed her. Patricia didn't believe for one second that he was sentenced from god to give out a plan. No, he wasn't a good guy at all. He was a _fucking murderer!_

"Patricia, my plan is a simple one. We choose not to run out into the outdoors, nor do we plan on just killing off students. All we are doing is moving out into the school. You know, spreading out," he said, somewhat loosening up his voice while speaking. He still held the gun up high, though he loosened his grip on the trigger. However, another voice broke though the darkness. This time it sounded less distressed and angry, but now sounded too cool and calm.

"If you plan on leaving, where are you going to go? Second of all, your gun is probably out of ammo, so you should put it down," the voice said. This time, everyone's gaze shifted towards one of the flames, where Minami stood, stretching out her long arms. Justin took a long look at her before laughing out loud. No one, not even his followers, joined him.

"Oh Minami, I'm not out of ammo, and I never will be. Just watch," he said. No one was quite sure of what he meant, but he did prove it by simply shooting it. He could've chosen to shoot at one of the living students, but he wasn't that evil…yet. Instead, he aimed at one of the dead ones and fired away. Being a standard handgun, it didn't fire very quickly, but it never ran out. Five bullets, 10 bullets, 20 bullets, 40 bullets, it kept going. Everyone watched in shock and awe as the body was literally torn apart, being ripped away by the never ending barrage of bullets. No matter what, Justin never reloaded. He just pulled the trigger and bullets came out. It was kind of like those old school shooters where the person had infinite ammo.

Looking back up at the crowd, he continued with his speech. "As I was saying, I decided to head to the auditorium upstairs. I checked the area, and it appears to be safe. Besides, I walked out there without a flashlight, and I came out alive and well, didn't I?" Justin asked, snickering. Everyone looked at him confusingly, not knowing how to answer. It wasn't that he was alive from walking out into the dark without light, but the fact that he was able to get out of everyone's sight without getting spotted. Actually, both thoughts perplexed everyone. How did he get out unnoticed and untouched? And how did he have infinite ammo in one handgun?

Any more mysteries?

"How…why didn't the creature attack you?" Kagami asked, feeling a headache coming on. If god was really giving Justin the job as a personal messenger, why didn't he explain anything else?

"Well, Kagami, God guided me when I searched around the school. No creature of the dark attacked my body or mind. It should be quite obvious as to when I left you all. I wasn't here when you all first awoke, am I correct?" he asked. Everyone thought for a moment. When the first light was lit in the gym, most could see who was there. Justin wasn't among them.

"You were awake before all of us?" a random girl asked from the crowd. Soon another gyration of arguments ensued. Many yelled towards Justin, all trying to get more answers out of him.

He shot the gun once more, though this time at the ceiling. Everyone was once more silenced.

"Yeah, I was. Now, if **I** survived, then everyone following me will survive as well. God won't kill my followers. Now, if you want to die, stay here. Don't, then come with me," he said, laughing. Everyone watched in horror as watched over them, waiting for someone to stand up. Miyuki, who was still sitting at the altar, was silently praying that no one stood up.

But her prays were never answered.

Six, no, at least 20, maybe even 30 stood. It was odd, but they all seemed cool and relaxed when they stood. Weren't they just terrified of the boy? Miyuki watched in horror as the students walked to the back of Justin, along with the original followers. She watched as some students who chose to stay behind stood up and hugged their leaving friends. There were a lot of tears flowing down everyone's cheeks, most from trying to keep people in the gym.

Independence is always the best, they say.

Justin, unlike Miyuki, watched in amusement as the students came to him for salvation. They were all helpless in this situation, and he took it all in, breathing in victory over the students. He knew that as long as God was with him, at least someone would follow him and his beliefs. It was true that he walked to the auditorium without light and didn't get hurt whilst in the halls. It was true that he checked every where in the area, and found no signs of problems or threats.

It wasn't true, though, to say that he wasn't afraid.

However, while the emotion spiked up during the couple of minutes that passed by, one soul wasn't accepting the fact that the new group was leaving. She ran straight up to Justin's face, giving a death glare to him. Justin was taken by surprise, and immediately stepped back. The girl was angry with him and at everyone who was foolish enough to go with him.

"Well, _amerikan, _if you are actually planning on bringing these kids to their death, then go right on ahead. But just remember; don't think we are going to help you if you get in trouble. Once you leave this gym, you're not our responsibility anymore, _waka~tsu ta?"_ she said, waving her index finger at his chest. She was fully furious, ready to just pull that gun out of his hands and shoot him down. Shoot everyone down while she was at it; There was no point in staying alive anymore. Her onee-chan was gone, and one of her friends was out old, possibly dead. Why should Kagami even care for anything anymore?

But Justin only laughed at her ignorance. "Poor old Kagami; you know, you really are just a whore, you know that? Testifying against the name of the lord, you're just a simple Jap-"

Kagami tackled Justin to the ground, causing a huge crowd to hover over the two fighting. Justin's followers were trying to pry Kagami off, while the people staying behind cheered and hollered for Kagami. Still, Kagami paid no heed to the cheering crowd. All she cared about right now was Justin suffering. He somehow persuaded Tsukasa to leave the school (hell, he probably knew Tsukasa was going to die there), and he slapped her with his metallic bible.

She punched him straight in the face quite possibly 50 times, not caring about the blood splattering all over her face. Justin was shielding himself, but was no match for the tsundere's fists of fury. His face was pretty bruised up before Kagami was finally pulled off of him. The crowd pushed Kagami away from the zealot as he stood up, wheezing and coughing out fragments of red liquid from his mouth. Still though, he had that grin on his face, as if he didn't feel hurt at all.

"Not bad Kagami. Not bad at all. Come on everyone, we're leaving."

With, Justin made a strange symbol with his hand, which somehow got everyone in his party to herd towards the door, the same one where they saw both Nagaru and their principal die from that dreaded beast. Most hesitated as the metallic double doors stood before them, but with a silent pray, they all marched forward into the darkness.

The rest noticed two boys handing out a couple of boxes to some of the followers. It turns out that they were supplying them with food from the cafeteria area. The two boys were looking awfully sad when they saw their "homeboys" leave, so they decided to provide them with some sort of Ration. That made Hiyori think about how long they could all go on with the limited supplies they had. Sure, even with half of the food being given to the betrayers, they still had enough for everyone, but was it really enough? Pretty soon, they were going to run out, and then the real hell kicks in. Hiyori gulped at the thought.

If they didn't find another food source soon, they were surely going to starve.

Everyone watched as the group with Justin left the gym, leaving behind their friends and partners. Some had boyfriends or girlfriends stay behind, while others left due to fear of being bullied (most of the well-known bullies like Yamato stayed behind). It was painful to watch them all go, yet they couldn't do anything about it. The creature might end up claiming them, or maybe it might just scurry on. Either way, there was a major chance that they weren't seeing the group ever again.

Once the sounds of footsteps died out, everyone remained quiet in the gym. The dead bodies of the classmates with the disease lay all around the floor, with the students hanging on the ceiling beginning to rot away. It was a depressing sight to see such a lovely school with bright students slowly rotting away as it drifted down into nothingness.

Like I said in the beginning, these students will never be able to forget this incident. Their friends, slowly being plucked away along with their hope, and their minds, slowly burning away with the school, were just the beginning of the long list of things that were lost during this incident. And oh lord, the trauma those ten girls experienced. They couldn't see the future, no, but if they could, maybe they would choose suicide over pain. Maybe then, none of this would've happened.

And before the next part of the story can begin, I will like to leave you with that first paragraph from the beginning of this story:

Have you ever wondered what you would do if you were in an isolated place with a group of people, stuck in a survival situation where no help was coming? It is a bizarre question, says I, but sometimes, you just got to answer the most difficult questions. What would you do? Would you help everyone else? Would you be a leader? Maybe you'll be the traitor, or the hated one, or the outsider. You'll never know, unless you were actually there to experience what those kids saw, those growing teens, which all had a whole life ahead of them.

88 Students remaining

4 adults remaining


	7. Through Heaven and Hell 1

A note to all readers:

I have no witty reply as to why this took so long to be published. Probably because of school and Family Matters and LOST. Also, a shout-out to that reviewer who said this story is very similar to "Mist" by Stephen King. I'm glad someone pointed out one thing that inspired my story. I was getting worried.

**PART 02:**

**THROUGH HEAVEN AND HELL**

_Day 05_

_Ryoo High_

_Gymnasium_

_Federation Territory_

_88 students remaining_

_4 adults remaining_

_Hiyori_

**The following is a Memo written by Tamura Hiyori, official logger of the Federation, under surveillance by Takara Miyuki and Hiiragi Kagami.**

_This is my first time ever doing something quite like this, and with the horrid lighting, I'm pretty sure spelling mistakes will be here and there. Before I begin, how did this happen? Official logger? Why me of all people! Roles like this should belong to our senpai's, yes? Crap, forgot Kagami-senpai was watching. Let me get straight to the report._

_ As declared by Miyuki-senpai, we are officially on our 5__th__ day. How she figured this out is a mystery to everyone, though I assume it was purely inference (then again, the sky sometimes darkens and lightens. A sun maybe?) Currently, our stock of food is pretty well, considering the fact that probably 40+ kids reside here in this gymnasium. However, Kagami-senpai is getting quite high-strung about the food supply, for we are never quite sure when our supplies will run out. When that happens, we'll probably just all die out. Be optimistic, girl, be optimistic…_

_ We're not completely sure what became of the Religious group that followed after Justin, though most of us assume that they never made it…I can't say that, I'm sorry. Minami-san and Yutaka-san went with him. If they died…_

_ Anyways, Miyuki declared just a day ago that from here on out, we will be referred to as the Federation of this school. I thought that the name was catchy, but some felt a little bit despondent about it. Saying we are __**THE **__Federation of the school made most think that we are the only ones here. I agree that does sound horrible, but Patty-chan has been keeping our hopes up. She keeps saying that during the bug attack just a few days ago, she saw people with guns shooting them down, probably to save us. I do hope there are others in the building besides us, but I do feel a bit apprehensive over the fact that the people Patty-san described had guns with them. If that's true, can they be possibly dangerous to us? Dear god, what if they got to the Religious group first before that…thing outside got'em? Stop thinking like that!_

_ We eventually removed the bodies shot by Justin and threw them outside. God, did I just say that? They didn't deserve to be thrown out like that, but we had no choice. People were complaining that they were starting to rot. The bodies above us were picked clean by the bugs, so we didn't need to worry about them anymore, but still… something happened to the bodies we threw out. About an hour after they were outside, we checked up on them again, only to find the darkness greeting us. The bodies, including Tsukasa-senpai (she's really gone…) were no where to be found. I can't even begin to fathom what could've happened to them, and I don't really want to. I'm scared, really. Everyone seems to be masking it pretty well, but I suck at that kind of stuff._

_ Kagami-senpai wants me to end my writing now, for she's telling me Miyuki-senpai wants to see what I got. I guess I got no other choice. I hope this pencil pack lasts along with the paper._

**REPORT CLOSE**

_Sojiro_

_Kasukabe local police station_

His coughing problem and his anger were the two main factors running through Sojiro's mind.

After he assualted that police chief yesterday, he was immediately thrown into a jail cell. It was pretty meager in size, but it was doable for now. At least for other inmates. Sojiro, on the other hand, wanted to get out of here as fast as he can. Three other inmates were paired with him, all looking dangerous to the old otaku. However, they weren't his biggest problem. No, his biggest problem right now was the whole closure of the search for his daughter. A whole school vanishes, and instead of taking the effort to look around the country, they just throw in the towel. Ryoo was one of the only High schools in Kasukabe, meaning most of the late teen population went there. With them gone, Kasukabe's residential population dropped signifigantly, and all the teachers vanished as well. Even if Konata wasn't missing, Sojiro would've still tried to look around the whole area, for if all of the teachers and students vanished, reports will spread thoughout the world. The last thing the Kasukabe government wants is the US invading their town and investigating everything.

Second of all, where did this cough come from? Ever since he was forcibly thrown into the cell, he's been coughing nonstop. Every minute, a wave of coughs invaded his normal pattern of breathing, causing him to almost die choking. It was odd to him, for he never had a cough like this. The only good thing that came from this was that the other inmates stayed away from him, granting him some peace from the criminal mind.

Now he sat on one of the bleachers, looking forward towards the steel doors and the dimly-lit hallway beyond. He was anxious feeling his fingernails digging into his hands as he clenched his fists. Today, he was being visited by one of the policemen. Sojiro was pissed at the Police, so he planned on beating the poor bastard that was selected to talk with him. Oh, how he grinned during that moment. Even the criminals with him, who all had done more terrible things than Sojiro, felt incommidious with the otaku.

"Mr. Izumi!"

Sojiro broke away from his nice little daydream as he heard his name echo throughout the halls. Standing from his spot, he quickly ran to the iron bars to see who was calling out to him. To the right of the door, only the doorway leading to the exit of the building stood, making Sojiro veer his head towards the left path. There stood a big, buff police officer, holding a clipboard in one hand, a pen in the other. He sported shaven hair, leaving only a buzz cut to protect his head. He had gigantic blue eyes that seemed to read through you, and had whitish-skin.

Definitely American.

"Yeah, that's me. What do you want?" Sojiro asked rather coldly. Being in this jail cell for a couple of hours, Sojiro quickly adopted a common criminal accent. No matter what he said, he sounded like he was pissed off. Then again, he was, and speaking to a policeman made him even angrier. However, the man didn't seem to notice, or chose to ignore him.

"Mr. Izumi, please follow me," the man said. He pulled out a ring with keys running along the sides of it, and began fumbling around with it, trying to find the right key to open up the small opening. Sojiro waited impatiently as the officer's hands shook. Now was the time to strike at the police force, and Sojiro's heart beat vigorously.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the police officer opened up the small door, requiring Sojiro to duck in order for him to get out. He thought that the other inmates would try and get out, but they were noticeably motionless. _Perhaps they are afraid of the police officer, _Sojiro thought.

And as he left with the officer, the inmates began to cough.

Walking through the halls of a jail seemed like hell to Sojiro. He shouldn't be here; bad people belong here. Sojiro knew for a fact that even after assualting that police chief, he was still a good person. Though, as he would put it, he wasn't really a great guy. He was planning on beating up one of the officers that worked in Kasukabe, after all. At this time, however, Sojiro didn't give a shit about it. Beating up a police officer didn't seem all too bad to him.

"Mr. Izumi?"

Sojiro snapped out of his thoughts once more. Unbeknownst to him, they were already at the door leading to the interrogation room. _What, are they planning to interrogate me? _Sojiro thought to himself. The police officer unlocked the door (again fumbling with the keys) and pointed his thumb towards the inside of the room. Sojiro gave him a cold look, but once more the police officer either chose to ignore him or just didn't notice. Reluctantly, Sojiro took a deep breath and wandered into the dark room. At least he hasn't begun coughing uncontrollably yet.

Inside, the lights were dimmed to almost being turned off. The room had a slight chill to it, making Sojiro shiver just a little bit. The only things visible to him at the moment were the light bulb itself, dangling in the moist air, and the chairs and desk, which he guessed was where he was going to sit for a little bit. Looking around, the room was pretty vacant. _And what am I supposed to do?_

"Sit down, Sojiro."

"Glancing to the left part of the room, Sojiro noticed a figure standing idly by. He must've overlooked it when he was looking around. When his eyes adjusted to the dark, he noticed that the figure was pretty feminine, instinctively noticing the curves around the hips. Other than that, he couldn't tell who it was, though the voice did sound familiar.

The figure began to walk up to the table, and immediately, just by seeing her green hair, he knew who it was.

"Y-Yui? Oh, thank god it's you! I thought I was being…"

"Sit down, Sojiro."

Sojiro picked up the tone in her voice. It was clear that Yui wasn't herself; not only evident in her voice, but her expression as well. Her eyes seemed too droopy, along with them appearing dry and cold. He had no idea why she was in such a state.

Did something happen? Did she find her sister? Dear lord, did she find her…

"Sit down, Sojiro!"

Sojiro couldn't help but gulp as his sibling commanded him. Reluctantly and embarrassingly, he sat down in the closest chair near him. Why was Yui so angry all of a sudden? Not wanting to wait, Sojiro decided to speak up.

"Yui, what's wrong? Something with the investigation?" Sojiro asked. He knew how much she was going through throughout the time Yutaka disappeared. She had to cope with the whole ordeal, be a traffic cop, and at the same time help with the search for her sister. And with the recent conflicts going on with America, everything was against Yui. Sojiro felt bad for her, but still had to know what was going on with the investigation.

Yui looked at the wall, still void of any expression on her face, and said "Sojiro, I'm sorry, I really am."

Sojiro was confused as to what she meant. "Why are you sorry?" he said at first. It had to have been three minutes later when Sojiro had the dark thoughts flood into his mind. "Something did happen, didn't it?" Sojiro asked once more. Yui continued to look at the wall.

"We really tried, Sojiro, but the lead officer commanded us, and we have to follow what he says. We called off the search."

Sojiro flinched in his seat, almost flipping straight to the floor. He couldn't believe the blasphemy coming from Yui's mouth. Was she accepting the fact that she might never find her sister now? Was she really telling him that the search was off?

Slamming his hands into the table, Sojiro yelled "What do you mean "called off?" You're just going to give up on those kids?"

Yui looked at him, cold-eyed, giving Sojiro the shivers. "I know your mad, but we have been continuously looking everywhere for them, placed the city into emergency, and still obtained no leads. Sojiro, I didn't want this to happen either, but with the damned … thing going on with America, and the fact that we've been searching for too long, the chief wanted the searching to stop. I don't know what we're going to do, but the city will decide, I guess. Please, Sojiro, please just understand…"

"NO!"

It was now Yui's turn to flinch as Sojiro yelled. The veins were popping out of his neck, and he was close to blowing fire. Rage burned in his eyes. Understand? Understand his ass! Those kids are probably still out there, and Konata and Yutaka…

"So you're telling me to just accept the fact that my daughter and niece, your sister, will never be found? Are you even thinking, Yui?" Sojiro yelled. He stood up and aimed away from her. Yui looked guilty, and stared at the floor while Sojiro cursed under his breath. He was in no mood for this, and started to head for the door.

"Sojiro, wait!"

He turned to face her. "What is it, Yui? What the hell could it possibly be?"

Yui bit her lip, trembling in her stance. Sojiro was pissed, and when he's pissed, there's no way of calming him down. Giving this situation, he'll probably never calm down. But she knew that she had to tell him that one piece of news that might at least raise his hopes up.

However, that thing she wanted to tell him would have to wait, for a policemen wandered into the room. "Yui, we got a prob-"

The man saw the angry Sojiro looking straight at him, with Yui standing in the back, trembling. Before the officer could speak up, Sojiro pounced on him, immediately bringing him down to the floor. Sojiro threw his fist into the unexpecting officers' face, never letting up. The officer tried to break free, but Sojiro proved to be a formidable attacker.

It wasn't until Yui shot her taser at Sojiro that the officer could stand once more. Sojiro began flailing on the ground uncontrollably, the electricity settling into his muscles. His mind was blurry and torn, making his once pain-stricken mind nothing more than shambles lying in waste.

His mind was just being rebuilt when the officer pulled him up and, with the help of another officer, escorted him out of the room. Sojiro began to take in the scenery once more, and was able to remember what had just happen. He tried to break free from the officer's grip, but they weren't allowing him to go free again. Yui still stood in the back, looking down in shame at her taser, tears rolling down her face. She heard Sojiro yelling for the officers to let go down the hall, and instantly covered her ears.

"God dammit, let me go! Yui! Yui, what the hell is going on? Yui!"

_Minami_

_Library_

_2__nd__ floor_

_Testament Territory_

It was quite painful to walk through the hallways in the dark, not knowing if something out there was watching you or plotting your inevitable end. That was how Minami felt as her "group" ascended to the second floor of the school, carrying minimal light in the process, barely keeping up with the rest. She wasn't the one who would commonly express her fear, but if there was any viable light, everyone would see the pale coloring on her face.

She only went with the zealot because Yutaka went with him as well. If she didn't leave, then Minami would've stayed behind. At least there she had friends who were more supportive than this zealot freak will ever be. Still, it would've been unwise to leave Yutaka alone with this man, for no one knew what he was planning to do. He had a gun, a bible, and a terribly gigantic ego. If Yutaka was left alone, she would probably be scared out of her mind.

But what perplexed her was why Yutaka left with him in the first place. She didn't show any sign that she wanted to go with him, and was actually pretty terrified of him. And yet here we are, down the cold hallway, with her following close to the group. Maybe she cracked when Konata passed out before or maybe when Tsukasa died from unnatural causes. Both ways, they were out here, and as far as anyone is concerned, there is no turning back.

But that's behind them, for now Minami sat in a chair, looking out into the void outside. The Library was where Justin led them all, and surprisingly no one was injured when getting here. Well, there was one exception, but for now, Minami wanted to forget the look on her face when she was dragged away.

Now she sat, watching the black of the outside never move. It was the same as always: cloudy, pitch black, and everything enveloped in it. In her previous life, she wouldn't have cared for the color black, for she always found it quite amusing. Now, all she wanted was the color to simply vanish. She had enough of looking around and not seeing anything. She wanted to see blue, green, yellow, hell, every other color that's not black. Yet, as long as she stays in this desolate hell-hole, she'll probably never see them ever again.

As she thought to herself, she heard petite footsteps coming towards her, making her cautiously turn around. You never know when someone or something is waiting to strike you down. Another reason why she hates this place: you can't even look behind yourself without being afraid.

The body started to come into view. There was a candle on the table she sat on, put up mysteriously by Justin himself. The candle lit only down the two bookshelves surrounding her, so the person looked pretty distorted and shadow-like. Still, Minami was able to identify the girl, and was quite relieved when she saw her.

"Minami-chan, what are you doing all alone?" Yutaka asked, perplexed. Minami still looked at her, and couldn't help but notice that her face was still pretty bright, regardless of what happened earlier on. Sure, it could've been the lighting from the candle, but her face still seemed cheerful and polite. Minami couldn't help but pat on the chair next to her. Yutaka thought for a moment before she realized that Minami wanted her to sit next to her. She forced a smile upon her face and sat down, doing what Minami was doing before: looking out into the void.

For awhile they just sat there, not speaking or moving. Minami liked the company, but she was still bothered by the question she was asking herself earlier. Yutaka was right here, and she could easily ask her, but for some reason, she couldn't muster the courage to do so. Who knows, maybe Yutaka had her own reasons that doesn't need to be shared. Then Yutaka spoke up.

"Minami, do you think we're ever going to get out of here?" Yutaka asked. Minami looked over to her, and noticed that she was looking down in what seemed like a mixture between sadness and anger. Her cheerful face was clearly gone; Minami liked her smiling face, always giving some happy feelings. But now her face was pale, nothing like what Yutaka ever looked like. It was pretty sad for Minami. But anyways, she had to answer.

"I'm not fully sure myself. All I can say is hope," Minami told her tiny friend. However, it definitely wasn't the right thing to say to Yutaka, who started to have a tear roll down her left cheek.

"Minami-chan, I can't hope anymore! I've been hoping since the beginning, and yet no matter how hard I try, we're still here. I've only slept maybe twice while here, and every time I dream that we've all escaped, that everyone survived, and that everything was all peaceful. And then I wake up, see this…darkness all around me, and I know that this isn't over yet. Do you know how painful it is to wake up in the worst place you can think of, with no knowledge at all about what this place is, and knowing that maybe something out there will… kill you eventually? I hate this, Minami-chan! I-I can't take this anymore!"

Minami was quite surprised that Yutaka actually yelled out that whole experience. She rarely screamed, and rarely got mad, and yet here she was, yelling out her heart for the world to hear. But that wasn't the only thing Minami noticed. Yutaka fell out of her seat, holding her hands to her face, and crying. People around the area peered over at the two girls. Minami felt their presences behind her, and shot them each a death glare. Everyone looking immediately turned away. Minami's glares were always so painful to look at.

Minami jumped out of her seat and went over to comfort her crying friend. Yutaka felt Minami wrap her arms around her figure, and placed her head on her chest. Minami didn't know what to say to her. This was her first friend in this school, after all. Quickly in her mind, she said the first thing that came to her.

"It's going to be okay," she whispered to her. She didn't know if she was lying or not, but whatever the answer was, she knew that that was a stupid thing to say. It was just too subtle, and Yutaka was still looking depressed. Hell, she looked up at Minami and said:

"How, huh? How the hell is everything going to be okay? Everyone probably thought that everything would be okay too! You know what happened? They're dead! They all died filled with false hopes that they will get out of here alive! Minami-chan, I-I want to end it all! Not even my onee-san is alive! Oh my god…onee-san…"

Yutaka broke down once more after mentioning her cousin. To her, Konata never woke up. If she stayed in the gym for just a little longer, then she would know that she did eventually wake up. However, fate is just cruel like that. There is nothing that can be done about it.

Life sucks.

Minami was once more frozen in shock at Yutaka's behavior, though she couldn't really blame her. If it was in her character, she would've been doing the same thing, but alas, all she could really do was hold Yutaka tight and hope that her crying would stop.

_"__Vaša čarhu pamirać…"_

"I'm sorry?" Minami asked. For some strange reason, she could've sworn that Yutaka said something to her, yet it sounded too fast, almost like she spoke in fast motion. She looked down at Yutaka, who was now looking straight at her, her eyes seeming to glow.

"Minami-chan, look!"

Minami looked at her in confusion, then looked towards the direction Yutaka was aiming at, which happened to be the window they were both looking out before. What she saw made her forget that question for Yutaka, or her thoughts on who spoke just moments ago. No, these thoughts weren't just forgotten, but completely erased. They were now filled with hopeful thoughts, as the thing outside was what they always wanted ever since winding up here.

_Nanako_

For no reason, Kuroi-sensei thought she saw something quickly dart by the windows, but she later considered it preposterous. Seriously, how the hell can there be something out there? Last time she checked, she was the only one left in the building. She took a quick glance around the halls outside of the classroom, and the only thing she saw was the bodies of several students and faculty members. True, any normal person would probably freak out at such a site, yet Nanako didn't seem to care. Hell, when she saw the bodies sprawled out over the floor, she kind of felt relieved, and felt as though a huge weight was lifted off her chest.

_Dear lord, am I insane? _She often thought to herself. Maybe she was glad that everyone was dead because she wouldn't have to share her newly found food supply, or maybe because before the whole incident, she was pretty much hating on everybody. Who knows, maybe she really is insane.

But as long as the lights remain on, and her food supply stayed for a little bit, maybe she can get a second chance. Sure, she might as well be the last living being in this world, but that doesn't mean you can't receive a second chance.

Right?

But nevertheless, that thing did jump around the window for a brief moment, and it looked rather nice to see in Nanako's mind. But still, there is no way that that thing was actually there. No possible way.

It doesn't take a math teacher to know silly things like that.

_Kagami_

_Federation Territiory_

"Light! Dear god there's light out there!"

That was the one line that awoke everyone from their self pity. The line came from a boy looking outside through the door that was supposed to remain shut. People immediately began to crowd around him, and were indeed shocked when they realized that the boy was speaking the truth. Over the western half of the building, a strange beam of light stretched downwards towards the ground, moving very irregularly. It was dim, but it easily bounced off the darkness around it. But no matter how dim it was, just seeing a light like that made everyone envious.

But what Kagami and Miyuki saw was a deathtrap. Sure, they were both excited, but the light was outside, where the mine was that killed Tsukasa, and where those flying creatures thrive. She didn't know what Miyuki was feeling, but Kagami felt that if they ran out there, they were most likely going to be killed. Due to this, Kagami didn't look at the light right away, but she was still mostly excited. Who knows, maybe there are others out in this place, like Patricia said.

After waiting for a couple minutes, Kagami gave in to peer-pressure and decided to look outside with the rest of the student body. Due to her being one of the leaders for now, most of the students allowed her through to the front. Having forty-something students and one janitor (who still refused to talk) crowding around one small door was pretty rough.

Once she was in the front she looked about outside. Indeed, there was a light aiming from the sky down to the ground. At points, there seemed to be something clouding it from view, but it always reappeared three seconds later. It was moving rather slowly to the right. Was there something controlling it?

Then the hope flooded into Kagami. What if it was a plane, or a helicopter looking for them? If it was, then the remaining students could finally get out of here. Kagami had to smile over the fact that she'll be able to meet her family again.

Without Tsukasa…

As she filled up with hope, she started to cry. Her sister wasn't coming back. Before, she had her sister, full of life, even when scared. Now she's gone, and not coming back. Kagami knew Tsukasa wanted to see her parents real bad, and now that the time has come to get out of here (presumably), Tsukasa will never get that chance. Kagami just couldn't accept it.

"Kagami, are you alright?" a female student asked her, placing her hand on her shoulder. Kagami looked behind her and saw the students face. Unlike Kagami's, her face along with everyone else looked bright, something Kagami thought she would never see again. Even the Janitor, who remained silent and mysterious this whole time, has a slight smile on his lips. Looking at them, she knew that they were filled with high hopes, and she didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings with her own. So, with a slight nod of the head, everyone continued to look at the spectacular light. Everyone just assumed that Kagami was crying tears of joy.

Everything started to go downhill when the crowd wanted to get out. Kagami felt there presences pushing against her, making her yelp as she struggled to stand. She wanted to tell them to stop, but this crowd was too envious. Eventually she was brought down to the ground face first, giving her a bloody nose from the impact. Luckily, before anymore damage could be sustained, Miyuki's calming voice came up.

"Everyone, please stop!" Miyuki yelled at the top of her lungs. Across the room sat Konata, who was calmly snoozing, who had just woken up due to Miyuki's yell. She couldn't believe that a human could yell that loud, let alone Miyuki, but no matter how much she didn't believe it, Miyuki yelled. Even odder was that she stopped everyone from both stampeding Kagami and running outside.

After everyone stopped their sudden movements and stared at Miyuki in amazement, Miyuki took a deep breath. "I understand how excited each and every one of you is, but we don't even know what that light is at this time," Miyuki reasoned with the crowd.

"I agree. Ow, may someone help me up?" Kagami said, her voice muffled due to her being face-down on the floor. Two female students standing above her quickly hushed everyone else away as they picked up the stumbled tsundere. Once back on her own two feet, Kagami pushed everyone away as she later rejoined with Miyuki. She heard her pink-haired friend ask her if she was alright (noticing Kagami's slightly bleeding nostrils), but Kagami chose to ignore it for this instant.

"Listen, I don't really know what you guys are excited about. That light might just be a creature out there that will kill you if you get to close. Who knows, but all I know is, while it is nice to see some form of light, it is probably too dangerous to walk out there," Kagami said, hoping to get an understanding from the massive group. Eh, who was she kidding, she was thrilled to see a light extending down to the ground. She was definitely a hypocrite in this situation.

But Kagami didn't expect the backlash that would follow that statement she just made. One male student yelled "who gives a fuck about that? You know what that light looks like to me? A searchlight, one that is trying to find us! How the hell can you say to all of us to not go out there?" At least a third of the students nodded in agreement with the student, who was nodding victoriously.

Before Kagami could even say anything, a girl senior spoke up. "Heh, Kagami-chan must be afraid of the dark! How hilarious," she said jokingly, raising her hands up to get everyone else to laugh with her. However, her face filled with contempt soon switched to confusion when the rest of the students remained silent and slowly backed away from the door and into the nearest corner, leaving the senior and Kagami alone.

And it definitely isn't fun being left with Kagami alone when she's angry.

"Did…did you really look me straight in the eye and tell me that the reason why I don't want you running out there is because I'm scared of the dark?" Kagami said, sneering most of her words. Her eyes were close to burning level, and everyone around the two shook in fear. Konata stood from her seat to listen to her friend fighting off some senior she never seen before. Yamata just stood in the shadows, looking at the floor.

"Look, what's your problem? We've been here for way too long, and the moment we see something that might get us out of here, you tell us to stay put. Why the hell are you so goddamn protective all of a sudden?" the senior said, placing her hands on her hips. The crowd could only watch the scene unfold.

Kagami took a deep breath, and walked up to the senior. She was probably two inches taller than Kagami was, but then again, the girl was wearing high heels. _How did she not get in trouble at the fair? _Kagami thought to herself, before immediately returning on the subject at hand. She looked at the senior straight in the eye and said:

"Remember that creature out in the hall? What if that thing exists out there? We have nothing to protect ourselves with, and even if we did, it probably wouldn't do us any good! There are also those flying creatures that might return if we're unlucky. Finally, the last time we allowed someone out, you know what happened? My sister died by this freak explosion by what some call a mine. I was stupid because I couldn't keep her alive, even when I felt it was dangerous in the first place! I should've gone out there, not her! She should be alive, not me! That's why I don't want you, or anyone else, to leave this school until Both Miyuki and I know it's safe," Kagami finished, breathing heavily over the fact that she said the whole thing in one breath. Everyone was taken by surprise, including Yamata (who disguised it pretty well), and were all expecting the senior to give up on the pointless argument. Sadly, she still had some argument left in her.

"Alright, underclassmen let me tell a couple of things. One, we have a couple of flashlights, and we've already proven that the creature hates light, so we're protected in that department. Two, we had that door open for quite some time, and no bug has wandered in yet. My guess is that either they're all dead or are just scared of us. Finally, number three; to tell you the truth, I seriously don't give a flying fuck about your sister. She was stupid, and you were stupid, happy now? That only happened once, and I highly doubt that another explosion will occur. Trust me, it's a hell-of-a-lot safer out there than in here," the senior retorted, snapping her fingers in front of Kagami's face while smirking. The crowd could only "oh."

This ticked off Kagami to a large extent, and the next thing she knew, she forced the senior to the ground and started wailing on her popular face. She felt the blood rushing through her, the energy burning in her fists as she beat the girl up. Her bloody nose didn't help in this particular situation, but let me tell you.

She ignored the constant pulling motions of the students and allowed her fists to continue their work. She wasn't really hurting the girl like she did with Justin, and she really wondered why she wasn't. Maybe it was due to the fact that her nose was bleeding too much. Either way, she wanted this girl to feel her rage; both for her, and her late sister.

It took roughly three minutes in order for the crowd to pull her off of the senior. The two pulling her up, Patricia and Ayano, were almost shrugged off as Kagami struggled to get back at the student, shout "let go!" extremely loud that the kids in the library heard it clearly. Hiyori helped the senior up to her feet.

"pfft, alright Hiiragi, let's make a deal," the senior said once she retained her composure. She was still breathing heavily, but other than that, she looked physically healthy, even after being beaten senseless for a couple of minutes. She didn't spill any blood, but Kagami's bloody nose dripped some blood onto her uniform.

She looked at the students, Konata and Yamata, and finally back at Kagami. "I will go out, and I'm bringing four others with me," she said, still retaining her breath. Kagami looked shocked. Did she not understand her rule of not leaving the premises without their permission? Granted, the senior was asking for permission this time, so Kagami had to think. She could've simply said 'no' and call it a night, but the fact that she wanted to bring others with her messed her whole train of thought. Seriously though, what type of deal was that? Either way, Kagami probably wouldn't receive anything good, anyways. But due to her anger at the senior, she decided to approve of her deal.

"Fine, you can go, but please don't force anyone to go with you!" Kagami said, with a pinch of hope in her voice. Everyone seemed surprised at her final result, though some seem to have enjoyed the verdict. The senior looked around and said:

"Alright, whoever wants to get out of this shithole, walk up here; first come, first serve," she said, pointing at the ground right next to her. Almost immediately, the boy who spoke before the senior did walked up to her and stood next to her being. The rest of the students looked around pathetically as if they were trying to figure out who would go next. Soon, one by one, one more boy and two girls walked up to the senior. After that, the senior held her hand up to the rest of the students.

"Alright, I think that will do for now. Oh, and don't worry about giving me a flashlight, guys," the senior said. After saying that, she took a cylinder out of her skirt pocket and flashed it to everyone, switching the power switch on and off repeatedly. Kagami wanted to yell at her for not bringing it up before, but she decided to hold it in.

The senior smiled slyly at Kagami. "Don't worry, sweetie; if that is rescue, we'll make sure they come for you too," she said, slightly laughing to herself. Kagami was ready to go berserk again, but Ayano gave her some calming words, calming the tsundere rather quickly. With that, the senior looked at the group, who all nodded to her.

"Alright, wish us luck!" the senior yelled. With that, they switched the light on and ran out the door. Most of those who didn't follow wanted to stop them, but it was too late now. It doesn't matter anyways.

They never saw them again.

_Misao_

The hallway was a wreck.

When Misao came to, she was out of the water and on a platform leading to the hallway she was desperately trying to get to. Her lantern was placed right next to her, allowing her progress to go unaltered. Her ankle still throbbed (_Of course, why not?_) But she should be able to go on. As long as there's no more swimming involved with her trek, she should end up alive. Maybe somehow she'll get to another floor, or maybe get out of here and realize everyone's pulling a prank on her.

Pretty twisted prank, but still…

When Kanata said that something was waiting for her when she awoke, she wasn't kidding. Lying next to her dormant body was a standard Todachi, fully crafted without any rust marks. She never saw such a sword in her life, minus the shows she watched on television. But even then, such a sword was pretty cool with her, as long as she can protect herself from whatever wants her dead. All she really needed now was practice swinging such a mighty weapon.

However, the weapon was hard to carry. It was heavy for her, so she had to result to holding it with two hands. Then she had to find a way to carry the lantern. The only way she thought it would be physically possible was by carrying it around her neck. When she attempted it, she felt the fire burning the top part of her back, so she immediately dismissed the idea.

She finally came to the conclusion of holstering it around her left shoulder, letting it dangle in-between her arm and bust. The heat of the lantern was only felt when rubbed against the skin, so while there might be an occurrence where the lantern hits her body, it would only be temporary, instead of everlasting. Now she could at least hold the Todachi (though a tad bit uncomfortably) with both hands instead of almost breaking her arm trying to hold it with one; god, why was steel so heavy for her? Was she really that weak?

Before heading out of the room where she faced her own death, she turned back and quickly shot her finger up at the creature in the water. She couldn't see it now, but once she did, she'll find some way to kill it. Misao doesn't go down twice.

But back to the hallway; Misao was now on the other half of the school, and it was as destroyed as the other half. The lights on the roof were all broken, with some wires dangling in thin air. Rubble was scattered about even more so than the other hallways. The walls were peeling apart, and the doors leading to the classrooms were half gone (only the bottom half remained.) If she didn't have the lantern, she would probably trip all the way up.

_Just keep going girl, you could do it, _Misao thought to herself as she narrowly dodged the bits of rubble scattered everywhere. It was hard moving due to her stiff leg, but she was lucky enough to have enough strength to drag. She didn't know how damaged it was, and she had a sudden fear of having it infected. No, as long as she doesn't think that, it won't happen.

At least she hopes.

Almost like it took forever, Misao finally reached the door leading to the stairwell. Before she turned the knob, she looked up to the roof and said "thank you for once." Taking a deep breathe, she loosened her grip on the blade and grabbed the knob.

"Hey, did'ya hear somethin'?"

"Coulda sworn."

Misao gulped as she heard the murmurs behind her. Her handling of the sword was still loose, and her hand was frozen on the knob. The lantern stood dangling in mid-air.

There are people down here. What if there in a similar situation like her?

"Um…" Misao began, though not really knowing what to say at the exact moment. _Come on, these people might be in trouble! _

"Probably just our imaginatins'…"

"Dah, oh well…"

She heard the voices fading away. If she didn't do anything quickly, she'll lose them for good. But what the hell was she supposed to say? Would anything work, or would some things drive them away. From what Misao could comprehend, they were both male, and spoke with a thick accent, mostly a fake osakan accent. _Goddammit, does any of that even matter right now? Alright, I'll just scream for help. Maybe they'll listen to me._

"Hey! Hey, I'm over here! Can you hear me?" Misao yelled at the top of her lungs. Her throat was still pretty dry, and her lips were still parched, but she gave everything she got in order to get their attention. Once she uttered the last word, she had to use the sword for a balance as she gasped for breath.

"Hey, ya hear that?"

"Ya, what the hell was it?"

"Dunno, let's check'it out!"

She finally heard their footsteps running down the hall behind her. To her, it was the most relaxing thing she ever heard. With that, she forgot all about Kanata, the stairs, the sword, the lantern, the dark, the monster, and her "mission" at the moment and sat down right at the door, taking a rest that was filled with happiness. Finally she'll have someone to talk to, and she might just get out of here. Looking straight into the void, she awaited the inevitable people to show up. She started to snicker to herself. Maybe god wasn't such a prick.

Finally, she saw two lights bobbing up and down inside one of the classrooms. She would've wondered where the two came from, since there was no visible entrance, but right now she didn't care. The lights grew closer, and eventually the men appeared before her, aiming their lights at her.

All the happiness and hope invaded Misao's rather untranquil mind, making her instantly drowsy. The two figures only stared at her, the lights aiming directly at her figure. Before any of them could say something, she passed out with a smile on her face.

If she stayed awake just a little bit longer, she would've seen the guns in their hands, aiming at her. They both smiled to each other as they picked her up off the floor.

_Hiyori_

**The following is a Memo written by Tamura Hiyori, official logger of the Federation, under surveillance by Takara Miyuki and Hiiragi Kagami.**

_We registered a couple more losses in our group. God, this just isn't right. Did we really just send those kids and a sempai out to their death? Sure, that light looks rather nice, but I highly doubt its any good. With all of the troubles going on right now, I firmly believe that that light is nothing but bad._

_ Patricia and I only looked at it, but didn't comment on it at all. We really don't want to be with the crowd on this one. Kagami-sempai and Miyuki-sempai seem to be the only other ones who believe that the light is a horrid thing. I don't know what Konata-sempai or Yamata-sempai are thinking, but they don't look like they want to be bothered right now, so I refuse to talk to them._

_ Kagami-sempai got into a fight with a student today. I wanted to intervene and help my sempai fight the other one off (she's my friend, after all), but I just couldn't do it. Besides, Patricia-san held me back. But now that girl and four others are gone, out in the void that is the dangerous outdoors. In full honesty, I believe that we should at least attempt to explore a little more, but I do understand sempai's concern over the dangers. She lost her sister, after all. Oh, now I'm getting teary-eyed. I just can't accept that fact._

_ The lights are still shining, and here I'm wondering if Minami-san and Yutaka-san made it. I really do hope everyone made it that left earlier on, but I really couldn't care less about that Justin kid. I think Konata mentioned a funny term for his nickname. I can't really remember it at this time, but I think it was "Gary Stu" or something. A strange, really, but for some reason, I feel as though a lot of people agree with her. Pretty weird, huh?_

_ I'm pretty sure those two made it. Nothing, I repeat, NOTHING could happen to them. It…it just can't._

_ Anyways, we are all still shook up over losing some people, and we are all still trying to find those two teachers that were here before. Kagami-sempai is hurt right now, and I can't help but feel sad for her. She lost her sister, got beaten up, and is trying to be a leader. I honor her, and I hope we can give her a rest pretty soon. Once this whole ordeal ends, she's going to be asleep for a long time, I can almost guarantee. _

_ Miyuki-sempai is giving me the signal to finish up. I still hope this pencil holds out. The paper is fine, but I hope the lead stays around. Oh, if only I could draw. Wait, my drawing utensils are in my locker. My locker isn't far from here! Maybe…_

I'm sorry for the absence. If this chapter sucked, I understand.


	8. Through Heaven and Hell 2

Manuscript:

THE OTHER DIMENSION

Chapter 08

_Day 05_

_Ryoo High_

_Gymnasium_

_Federation Territory_

_83 students remaining_

_4 adults remaining_

_Yutaka_

"I wonder what that was."

Both Yutaka and Minami stared straight at the gaping hole of darkness out the window. Just a moment ago a strange light was prancing around from the damp, dark clouds above to the soiled, dark ground below. The light pierced through the everlasting shadow that clutched their souls, filling their world with a surprising depth of surprise and amazement. Yes, of course there was some hope filled inside their hearts, but before that feeling that was forgotten for so long could completely develop in their bodies, the light was forever gone, not leaving even a speck of a spark in its leave. Too many, seeing a light far off seems to just be a normal occurrence for many, especially for the city folk, but to the two girls sitting alone in a library plagued with endless night, the light was like the essence of a certain magic that no human can explain. For that magical moment, the two girls couldn't help but smile, even if it was just ever so slightly.

But like all magical feelings, they had to go on their merry way, leaving behind this wonder that never can be explained.

"It was a light, wasn't it? I'm not just seeing things, am I?" Yutaka said, now looking up at Minami, who still looked out into the void, bug-eyed as though she had the thousand yards stare. Yutaka had her right hand in Minami's left, and felt the intensity of both of them shaking, Minami more so.

"Y-yes, that was a light," Minami said, sounding even more robotic than her common, quiet voice.

Looking perplexed, Yutaka looked back out the window, watching the shadow seeming to bounce around so frequently like a crazed rabbit. Then again, crazed rabbits have the ability to move; darkness doesn't have this trait visibly. Maybe that whole connection was her eyes playing tricks on her, but she didn't seem to really pay attention to the details, so it never occurred to her. She had a strange inclination that the light would return, but she knew it probably was gone for good, considering anything here in this dark wasteland that she believed to be her high school that was too goo to last was, well, too good to last. Just take a look at Tsu-

_No,__don__'__t__think__about__her,__not__right__now,_Yutaka told herself, feeling guilty over not remembering a former friend. She knew it was rude to not remember someone who passed away (she learned that from her sis), but in the strange predicament that she was cast into right now, she didn't want to think of a depressing subject. She already did that just five minutes ago, resulting in her breaking down, bawling her eyes out and quite possibly snapping at her closest friend. _I__'__m__sorry__if__I__disrespected__you__sempai.__Please__understand__…_

"Yutaka…"

Getting her thoughts interrupted, Yutaka heard the voice of Minami, and turned to face her, only to see Minami facing away from the window, turning her head to look at the crowd. Yutaka almost forgot a candle was lit nearby, becoming scared at how obstructed the shadows made Minami's hair look. She enjoyed the light that came from the outdoors, but seeing the candle light the room made her feel just ever-so nervous.

"Hm, is something wrong, Minami-chan?" Yutaka asked, having this concerned look in those emerald eyes. Minami did not face her, but Yutaka believed her face was a lot more relaxed than how it looked just a moment ago; she didn't know why she believed this, but the tone Minami used seemed to be back to the normal way she always talked; slightly monotone, yet having a saddened, shy sound that could lower the emotions of a passerby if they're not careful.

After what felt like a decade of silence, Minami finally turned her head back to face Yutaka, indeed showing more of a relaxed mood than her previous look just a moment ago. However, Yutaka could see a slight hint of worry in her eyes, though they were almost completely blocked out by the aphotic atmosphere that lingered gently along, so the true feeling hidden in Minami's eyes were pretty unclear to her. Still, those eyes seemed to pierce right through Yutaka's small frame, giving a slight shiver down Yutaka's spine.

"Yutaka, we saw the light, right?" Minami whispered in such a cool voice you could've sworn she was just the wind passing by.

"Y-yes, yes we did. Why, is something-?" Yutaka trailed off, tilting her head ever-so slightly as though to inform Minami that a question mark was being erected overhead. With a slight cough cutting through her lips, Minami replied:

"Do you think anyone else saw it?"

Yutaka caromed back in her seat from the question, filling her face with puzzlement and wonder. _She__has__a__point.__Did__anyone__else__see__the__light?__It__has__been__unusually__quiet__since__the__light__left-_

"Ladies and gentlemen, please listen to me."

Yutaka and Minami both felt a slight downturn in their bodies after hearing that familiar voice; the voice they chose to follow, that sickening yet enlightening voice everyone has come to know is just a short time. That voice that made you in the mood of hitting someone, yet at the same time the voice that provided guidance. It was still a major mystery as to why people followed this voice, let alone Yutaka following this voice, for everyone despised the cretin. Still, in this desolate place they were thrown into, if a person had such a grating voice, surely they must know what they are doing.

Logic doesn't fit in with this place.

Through the eerie glow of candles Yutaka and Minami could slightly make out the zealot, standing on what was most likely a bunch of dictionaries, filled with dust as though they weren't tended to for years, centuries even. His face was still stained with the blood that poured out of him from that attack Kagami did not-so long ago. Even his eyes seemed to be bloody, both with pain and possible a certain type of intention, yet that might just be the candle light, at least to Yutaka. He was still holding that Bible of his in his left hand, happily holding it up to the heavens like he was expecting someone from above to take it. In his right, positioned at his side, was that damn silver, angle-like object that claimed the lives of fellow students, some Yutaka knew. The chamber looked as though smoke was still pouring out of it, if smoke can even leave a gun like that. However, who could blame the gun? It probably shot 100 bullets by now without the need of reloading. It was probably just tired. _Where__did__he__get__that__…__thing?_ Yutaka had to contemplate.

"Lord Justin, please speak to us!" a student bending down on his knees screamed over to the boy. The zealot looked down at the boy, who was just nearly a couple of inches from the books he was standing on. Yutaka noticed that out of everyone here, only a couple of people seemed to actually pay attention to the boy, with this person being one of them. _I__guess__they__were__the__ones__shouting__throughout__the__whole__trip__through__the__hallway.__Did__they__go__insane?__W-will__I__become__one__of__them?_ Yutaka suddenly thought up in her mind. They were probably just going insane; what with the darkness, people dying all around them, and food and water being limited; it was inevitable for at least _someone_to be driven to misery. Still, this gave Yutaka enough reason to be worried, for if they could be driven insane, couldn't she?

Justin motioned his hand with the gun up and down in the air, smiling like the devil himself. "Relax child, and I will say my words," he said. Yutaka couldn't help but notice Minami suddenly looking scared, her chest pulsating rather too frequently. It took her nearly a full five seconds before she realized why Minami would be so scared. _Did__he__see__the__light?__Oh__man,__what__did__he__think__it__was?__Wait,__would__it__really__be__a__bad__thing__if__he__did__see__it?_

"Minami-chan, what's wrong? Do you think he saw it?" Yutaka whispered.

"I-I don't know, but I hope he didn't," Minami whispered back.

"Why?"

Minami looked at Yutaka, and Yutaka noticed that Minami's eyes were truly freaked out. Hell, this was probably the first time Minami showed true emotion full-front; too bad it had to be a scared feeling.

"I-I don't know. I…I don't want him to see it. I'm afraid of what he thought it was."

Minami's voice seemed so shaky, even for a scared individual. However, Yutaka had to admit she had a point. _What__if__he__did__see__it?__What__would__he__do__to__everyone?__Oh__god,__why__did__I__choose__to__follow__him?_Now thinking about it, why did she come here? She would probably be safer there than in this strange library-like area. _All__my__friends__are__there.__Minami__and__I__are__alone__here.__Oh__man__…_

Before she could say anything, out came more trash from the mouth of the zealot. "My people, as we all know, food supplies are pretty low. In fact, from the inventory, we pretty much have nothing. But please do not worry, for our savior has presented some gifts for us. That is why I will be leaving for a moment," Justin said to the crowd in a not-quite booming voice. Yutaka heard many sighs from the crowd members, some just looking downright angry. It made her wonder if everyone else had similar thoughts of why they went with him, hoping that she wasn't alone in this state.

"But lord, we can't just send you out alone!" the same student kneeling proclaimed, looking like his eyes were producing waterfalls cascading down an uneven surface. A girl next to Minami seemed to whisper "Oh, come on…"

"Relax, son, relax, I have already determined the person that will be coming with me, as well as our temperate leader," Justin said, tightening his grip on the bible. Many still listening (some of the students farthest from Justin looked either distracted by something else, or were simply just ignoring the zealot on purpose) seemed to have stifled their breathing just a tad bit. He already selected the leader and follower? Who was going to have to go with him, back out into the halls? Who was supposed to run this group? No one knew the answer, and no one wants to know.

Yutaka's eyes grew wide, and looked back at Minami, whose face seemed more lax than before. "Minami-chan, he can't be serious, right?" Yutaka said, trying to spark any form of conversation with her normally-silent friend. However, all Minami did was sigh.

"Heh, guess he didn't see the light after all. I guess I don't care about what happens now."

Minami spoke almost completely muted, though loud enough for Yutaka to at least process what she said. Indeed, Justin did not mention the light at all during his rather short speech, nor even hinted at it. The closest mention of the light he could of made in the speech (and by close, I mean most likely he didn't intend it) was the "gifts" the "savior" presented to them, since a light from above could possibly bring the gifts down (in some twisted way). However, this was merely speculation on Yutaka's part. She could understand the relief Minami felt, and Yutaka soon felt the exact same way. At least now Minami's face looked just the way it normally did before this whole ordeal began.

"_I __guess __I __don__'__t __care __about __what __happens __now.__"_

"Hm?" Yutaka murmured. Minami looked at her, now looking puzzled instead of relieved.

"I didn't say anything," Minami said, looking more confused than before. Yutaka looked at her unsuringly, not fully comprehending what she exactly heard. _It__sounded__like__Minami-chan,__I__'__m__sure__…_

"You! Yutaka, isn't it?"

Yutaka felt a sudden shift in the atmosphere around her, causing her to look back at the Zealot. There he was, pointing his finger toward her, causing the rest of the crowd, even the one's not exactly paying attention to the whole mass, to stare directly at the two girls talking away in the corner of the room. Yutaka felt her skin turn cold, and felt a sickening feeling of stage fright as everyone stared directly at her, looking as though they were peering into her soul. "I…I-I-I…I" Yutaka stammered, her teeth chattering away as though she was in the freezing cold outside during the winter time. Justin shot her a smirk, producing such a vile face due to the scars and dried blood dancing about his dimples.

"Yes, you! Come, you will be accompanying me to get the gifts," Justin said. With that, he stepped off of the dictionary pedestal, and began to walk toward what was possibly a reception area for checking out books behind him, never loosening his grip on the items in his hands. Yutaka sat there, stunned, not knowing what to do. _W-why__me?_She questioned.

Out of nowhere, Minami stood up. "Why her? Leave her out of this! She's…she's afraid of the dark, and doesn't want to go back out there. Take me instead!" Minami yelled probably the loudest yell she ever produced, causing even those farther away from her to slightly jump. Yutaka could only look at her. Indeed, she could see Minami looking nervous after saying all of that, and knew that she was just defending her. She heard that stutter of her being afraid of the dark, and was quite happy that Minami actually remembered that. Still, she was afraid of Minami doing this; she didn't want her closest friend to be forced into something she doesn't have to do.

But all Justin did was laugh. "Heh, relax Minami-chan, I will cure her of this phobia. Besides, it wasn't exactly my choice for her to come with me," he said with a smirk. Everyone wondered what he meant, even those who didn't care. With the silence still lingering on, he continued: "I was told to bring her with me. I do not understand myself why he wanted her to follow me, but he must have his reasons, so with that in mind, Yutaka is coming with me. But don't worry, Yutaka-chan, I'll make sure you are protected under his oath."

"Oh, shut the fuck up, Justin! There's no one saying anything to you! You're just-"

BANG!

And that girl who spoke up dropped to the ground faster than a speeding bullet.

Everyone shuffled away from the dying girl, many screaming and panting like little children. Minami and Yutaka gazed in horror at the sight, with Yutaka darting her eyes back in forth between the girl slowly bleeding out and the zealot holding the gun straight in the air, smoke rising once more through the chamber.

"Anyone else want to deny his credence? Listen; if you don't believe in the word of the lord, you do not belong here. Either you die as a savage out in the halls like the beast you are, or I will personally absolve your sin myself!" he yelled in what Yutaka could only describe as the scariest noise she ever heard in her entire life. With him taking a breather, he proceeded to the girl, who was now hacking up blood, creating a pool around her head, dampening her hair and necklace, along with staining the top part of her shirt. The bullet trailed right through the side of her neck, completely making a tunnel through to the other side. It was a miracle she was still conscience, let alone _alive_for that matter. But nonetheless, regardless of how awestruck many were at her living status, Justin walked to her and proceeded to shoot her head, causing what might've been a geyser exploding with red liquid. Her face, once pretty with life, and was now a cavern of red, with strange liquid pouring out where her right eye used to be. The left eye, which surprisingly was left intact, looked at the right eye, seemingly appearing to look at the mess in horror. How complex her face look and how her eye was looking at the rest of her disfigured appearance, made Yutaka give up whatever was left in her stomach to the rest of the world.

She felt the comforting hands of Minami being placed on her shoulders, but even that wouldn't help her case. She saw him brutally kill a girl right in front of her eyes, in front of everyone's eyes. She saw the scared, nearly lifeless eyes of that girl, coughing out blood from the most-likely ruptured throat of her figure, saw how her body danced just a tiny bit like a squashed spider, losing its last nerves as the brain slowly drains away into oblivion. She saw how he looked, so irate, yet had a calm posture that clearly did not fit with his attitude or face. Oh, she had to see everything. It was odd, for she saw everything before when he shot those sickly students in the gym, seeing each and every one of those students experience the end prematurely, yet such a feeling like this was definitely not experienced by her in any sort of way.

And dear God, she was told to follow him. _Follow __him __after __he __just __shot __a __student __dead._

While looking like a broken piece of glass looking straight down at the area she recently vomited in as Minami held her shoulders, the rest of the student body seemed to fall back in unison, a huge bang being created from the soles of their feet as they touched the marble-like tiles below. Many fell to the floor, stammering like a crab in fright away from this insane fellow, while a couple unsurprisingly fainted, and a look of astonishment on their already distraught faces. It was a spectacular sight, for with the exception of the bang caused by their feet, a complete silence was in the air. No one, not even the completely terrified made a yelp or shriek. It was just that dead silence that makes you wonder if you went deaf. Maybe someone in that room was praying for another to at least say something, but if that was the case, then everyone shared the same mindset. And all Justin did was stand there in that same pose, still having a face full of anger and dread.

Maybe a couple of years went by when Justin finally spoke again, for it looked as though everyone grew an extra couple of years, at least with their faces.

"Alright…Yutaka," Justin began, shifting that ice-cold glare directly towards her, though for her benefit she wasn't looking: "Come. We must make haste." No one moved an inch, all frozen in that statue state, many not having a single though left in their thick skulls; that odd silence, that strange and unsettling feeling that a boy of their school shot and killed a fellow student. One has to wonder why they acted like this now, and not when the others back in the gym were killed by the same, damn object. Maybe it was that Justin was the unofficial leader of this group, and the chilling fact that he would still have the mindset to kill those around him (killing those that went so far as to just question his motives) most likely brought everyone, even the most sane throughout this whole situation, straight onto the edge.

And Yutaka had to follow him to this area where "gifts" were brought from a "savior." See how logic clearly fits in here?

"No, just leave her out of this!" Minami yelled once more, now flaring up more than ever. Her eyes, as described by the rest of the students, looked as though they were possessed by a demonic entity, the scariest thing they ever truly seen from this silent girl. Yutaka heard her friend get all wiled up with rage, but the site of that girl being shot (or rather, that girl who's remnants still remain on the floor of the once-just-dusty library) still made a habitat in her fragile mind, making her unable to react to her friend yelling, or at least being unable to react normally to a situation like this. Even then, everyone else seemed to shift there fear of the zealot to Minami, something that seemed surprisingly unlikely in this library from hell.

But instead of joining with everyone else, Justin scoffed and aimed that damn gun at her, aiming straight neither between her eyes, nor at her neck, but at her chest, almost pinpointed at the area where her heart would reside. It was that sudden turn in the interest of his site that set Minami from the angry state she was in to a surprised, stunned feeling that made her already near-pale skin turn even paler, her ghostly eyes turning even more white than should be normal. She saw straight into the barrow, and even though the darkness around them completely eclipsed the possibility of seeing into the portal straight into the hell that will come and take you away, she could feel this strange beckoning coming from the chamber, beckoning for her to call out again, just so that bullet could impale her flesh, ending her pretty short life. That strange calling…she would be insane to call out again, but if she didn't, Yutaka would be in danger with that man. What was she to do?

"Its okay, Minami."

Minami heard that squeak, and looked down with great hesitance to the little girl now looking up at her, seeing her face that looked so unfamiliar. After looking down throughout the whole fling going on around her, staring straight down at the remnants of her stomach, where the fumes went back into her nostrils (though she hardly noticed) , she finally looked up to the world, looking straight into the fearful eyes of Minami. A cold sweat seemed to be forming on Minami's forehead, and for once, Minami truly looked like a true human being (Yutaka liked her as a friend, but even she had to admit Minami looked like a robot of some sorts, or as Konata always said: "She looks like a Nagato to me," though Yutaka never understood what she meant). Yet, from Minami's perspective, the appearance of Yutaka's face looked so…off.

Her eyes looked less cheery than they ever did, even more so than when she broke down just a few moments ago, where even when she was feeling scared, hurt, and simply in pain, she always at least to try have a cheery expression. Her mouth was continuously quivering and her cheeks were flushed, as though she was too cold to maintain her own life. It was odd, for her voice was not obstructed from her mouth moving very rapidly like that. However, the thing that scared Minami the most was this eerie aura that emitted from her face; this horrid feeling that Minami just couldn't describe with words, possibly not being able to describe at all with any media. It was this one sickening feeling that if Minami continued to look at her friend, she would most surely be sick come next morning (whenever that would be).

Both of them didn't even realize that the zealot stood before them, the light just obscuring the left side of his body. Minami only saw his arm extend down to Yutaka, which soon attached itself to the collar of her shirt. "Get up, Yutaka. We must hurry," he said. Minami had that sudden surge to hit the boy in the head, just to shut the damn man up, but as suddenly as this feeling came to her, Yutaka looked straight into her eyes and for some reason, Minami just couldn't do it. She did notice that Justin place the gun away in his back pocket, so he would be defenseless against her attack, but Yutaka's eyes seem to tell her that she should be calm. _Why,__Yutaka? __I __could __stop __him.__You __don__'__t __have __to __do __this__…_

But Yutaka had come to the conclusion of following the zealot out the door. Everyone in the room was speechless, motionless, and flat out scared. The zealot took his "victim" to go outside, most likely so he could off her, judging by how he shot that girl in cold blood. All but one (that being that crazed boy who kept proclaiming Justin as "our lord") tried to look invisible to Justin, including that young girl who was one of the first followers of his twisted group. What was he going to do? Why did he choose Yutaka? Why does he have the gun?

And everyone had a heart attack when the next question came in line: Who is he choosing as a leader? Dear god, what if others were as twisted as him? That boy constantly crying out…Oh god, the wonderous decisions that can be created in just a couple of minutes; how downturned the world can suddenly become in just a couple of seconds. Justin had the gun, and he wasn't afraid to shoot. Would he keep the gun to himself, or will he give it to the person left in charge. All of hell was ready to shatter into tiny fragments, ready to take down those that still remained sane.

Justin laughed, almost like that of a cheerful, old man, and thus brought Yutaka with him to the doorway, overcast by deep shadows hanging carelessly on the frames. Justin kept the gun in his back pocket, concealed by his overtly big shirt, hopefully still having the safety on. How on Earth could that gun still have ammo in it? Ah, that doesn't matter right now, as Yutaka was made to open the door, though by a specific instuction from the zealot, who most likely made Yutaka open the door rather slowly, having the beams supporting the door creak and shoot out bars of dust, which lingered about the air, looking like a storm cloud hanging lazily in the candlelight. Everyone remained silent, while Minami grew only more furious.

Justin seemed to stop right in the door way, placing a hand in front of Yutaka to stop her abruptly in her tiny tracks, and performed a 360 degree turn, facing his "people," smiling so disgustingly that Minami wanted to puke.

"Yutaka," he shouted at the top of his lungs, even though Yutaka was basically to the right of him, "Please select our leader. I did have a choice, but my excitement has…aroused my decision, and thus the Lord will chastice me for my sinful belief." Yutaka had no idea what he meant by that (aroused? Sinful belief? Hooray, she didn't know another thing!), but suddenly she felt like the candles pressed their laid-back lighting onto her, and she let out a little yelp. Justin was waving his hand around, motioning as though he tried to show the crowds to her, as though it was all new to her (now she wanted to slap him).

"Um…" Yutaka sounded off in the dark, looking at the eerie and luminiscent faces of those completely terrified staring back at her, looking like men born in the wild, thrown into an urban environment for the first time, dumbfounded at how different the world has suddenly become. They made her want to run off back into the crowd and hide; she didn't want to leave the sanctuary of the library (yes, even though she hated the godforsaken place, she had to awknowledge that it was indeed a safe haven compared to the halls) and go out into the dark halls, somehow being more dark than ever before. She couldn't decide, didn't really think she would have to come up with the decision herself (the zealot promised he made a decision. Damn kid…), being thrown up onto the stage without a script or rehearsel. She was literally in a jam.

She looked over to the side of her, and saw Minami staring back at her, clearly still angry, though hopefully not at her, but at the eerie presence of the Zealot (Minami rarely, and I mean rarely, got mad at Yutaka). Out of all the students sitting down in that room, only Minami really stuck out, probably because out of all of them, Minami was the only one she got to know well, blaming her sickly body on not being able to learn about the others well. She knew Minami would probably decline being the leader of the group, but Yutaka couldn't think of anyone else to fit that mold.

And so she chose her, probably the greatest decision in her life, or one of the worst.

"Mi-Mi-Minami," Yutaka said, looking down in utter sadness, pointing towards Minami's location. Everyone that sat or stood near Minami quickly got out of the way, leaving Minami alone in the shadows, her eyes now bulging with surprise and fear. "I want Minami to be the leader," Yutaka reassured the Zealot, who looked bespectacled, but still rather amused. Minami looked as though she was going to drop dead, almost looking like a ghost. _I__'__m__so__sorry,__Minami-chan,__I__'__m__so__sorry,_Yutaka said in her mind. She could almost feel the sickening tears trying to leak from her eyes, though she wasn't sad. Possibly due to fright, perhaps?

"Well, well, a strange selection, I do must add, but if you surely believe Minami can run this group well whilst were out, then…" he began to walk towards Minami, extending his hand out, the one with the bible, tapping Minami's hair. Minami made a threatening noise, and backed off; giving the most painful glare anyone has ever seen, ever. Justin gave her a weird look, before starting to silently site a prayer to her, something that barely anyone, even those close to her, could make out. Yutaka didn't know what Justin could possibly be doing, but if she bothered to actually attempt to hear, she could probably make out an "amen." Minami at a random point did recite something, but Yutaka wasn't able to make it out.

She wanted to look away from the stares of her fellow peers, so in an instant she turned to face the doors, looking out into the darkness ahead of her. It was increduously dark, to the point that even with a lantern like Misao had just moments ago which Yutaka was unaware of, the light would be severly dimmed. What type of darkness was this? It seemed too thick to be actual absence of light, and it oculdn't smoke or a black fog for it was easy to breathe inside the building, as well as the point that even they could see, they didn't have to care about visibility aside from the dark. It was so strange, how odd the school looked to her; it was their High School, it had to be, Yutaka could make out the oddly-colored hall in front of her (though extremely barely) that lead to the library, something she could recognize in an instant. But how? How could this distraught place filled with endless shadow be their school? Where's their parents? How long have they been here? Hours? Days? Years? So many questions can easily be asked, all from staring out into the abyss out in the halls.

"Are you ready, Yutaka…chan?" Justin seemed to hesitate as he patted her frail shoulder. In her mind she played out shrugging off his touch, but she got scared out of it, in fear that if in reality she did this, Justin might pull out the gun, and who knows where he would aim. Slow death? Quick-and-painless? With that gun, he could play God all day long, but without it, he was one of the students: feeble, paranoid, and scared shitless. With that, she just turned to look at him, directed her eyes to look into his (_Oh__god__they__look__horrible!)_, and short-and-simply nodded in comfirmation.

"My lord, what about your light? Surely even you can't survive the darkness alone," that stupid, loud kid yelled. Justin turned to him, smirked, and held the bible up, swinging it about in the air, making it look like a flag due to the dim light.

"Relax, knave, I will only require this light to protect me from the imprenetrable Interloper," he said, indicating the Bible hanging loosely in his right hand (never the left hand. Never the left hand) as the "great" source. Yutaka stared at him, dumbfounded. _He__can__'__t__be__serious,_Yutaka thought, once more playing out telling Justin why they should bring a flashlight. Cue bullet to the head. Yutaka wanted to live to see Minami once again and apologize to her for making her this leadership role.

Speaking of which, Yukari looked over to Minami, feeling guilty over her decision. Minami looked perplexed more than the anger that Yutaka believed she would be. Minami caught eye-contact with her, and though it was quite stifled, Minami nodded over to her, indicating to not worry. For some reason, Yutaka could've sworn she could hear Minami answer her mind:

(_I__'__m __sorry __Minami __I__'__m __so __very __sorry __I)_

_ (It's okay Yutaka just please be safe we'll get out of this)_

_ (Please be careful Minami I don't know what I'll do without you)_

With the biggest breath escaping her mouth, Yutaka stepped out of the library, along with the Zealot, walking shoulder-to-shoulder out into nothing. Minami sat there, alone, as everyone began to turn to her.

"Why did you kill her?" Yutak blurted out suddenly, getting her eyes adjusted to the dark presence. It was clearly too hard to see, but if her adjusted eyes were correct, she could believe that they were walking down the southern stairwell, carefully plotting each step. They didn't exactly make it so far from the library, for Yutaka could look through the window on the door and see the faint glow of the group of candles. Being that it was too dark, and the fact that somehow Justin was able to map out where to step at the right time, Yutaka had to hold his hand on the way (she felt completely ashamed; she held onto the hand of a murderer).

Justin continued on, slowly taking a step down a step of the stairwell. "I…I'm sorry about that," he said, sounding as though he began to choke up. Yutaka felt surprised at the reaction, expecting some other, sinister answer.

"You…you killed her, and all you could say is sorry?" Yutaka began to yell, taking a step down concurrently with his steps. Suddenly Justin stopped in his tracks, making Yutaka almost fall forward, making her hate him even more. At some point Justin pulled out his handgun from his pocket, using his other hand to investigate it (she couldn't see it, but the gun was caked with blood), Bible nestled between his armpit and arm. For a second, Yutaka believed he was about to shoot her.

"Listen to me, the lord is…he works in various ways, I had to make due."

"Of what? She didn't do anything bad. She wasn't even ready to hurt you!" Yutaka yelled, something that even she realized was an extremely rare event. She didn't feel it, but the glassy tears began to well-up, glossying her vision, whatever vision she had. Justin seemed to sigh.

"I…I couldn't tell, alright? She does something bad, all of hell will break loose, and the Interloper will wrap us up in its grasp. God has told me to lead you all, and any doubting my powers will have to be disposed of. Again, I'm sorry," Justin said, and for a split second Yutaka could've sworn she heard a slight subtle bit of emotion in his voice, almost making him sound like a human being, not the dispicable monster everyone viewed him as. But as every belief turned into, it vanished into nothing.

Yutaka couldn't reply to that sentence, not knowing what words she could possibly use to combat his sentence. All she heard from him was "Hurry, we must make haste."

And against her will, Yutaka followed.

_Unknown Location_

_Misao_

Way down in the school, far down even below the basement, where Misao wandered just moments ago, was a hidden room that only the custodians of days-old had any knowledge of. Those that occupied the room now had no recollection over what to possibly call it. Some suggestions of course were the generator room, the boiler room, or some utility closet filled with huge contraptions (my personal favorite). Nevertheless, not single soul outside of the group currently residing in the hovel knew of the location, and never most likely will. It is to the point that the question has to be asked over how long the room has even been there. The group residing there moved in, which had to have been eons ago, and the room still stood there, hidden away behind closed walls, only reachable via a crumbling stairwell, ready to give way any moment (thus, the current group created another stairwell in hopes it would last. None of them are the best craftmakers).

The group was the basis of simple –minded teenagers, lost in this world, lost in the dark without a paddle, stranded in the flows of time. There used to be 20 of them, but as the time wore on, only 8 remained. So many had to meet their unfortunate demise via such odd occurences I can't even begin to describe, all thanks to this disturbed land, drought with nothing but endless supply of overcast. Only once actual rain fell to the ground, for every other time it was something else that committed the rain to fall. And yet, the lake out back near the track field, the area of land where the group had obtained their water supply, was always filled, usually in 10 "This-world" days (made-up time. They had no definite time name, so we'll just call it this). So far, nothing ever attacked the group inside their shelter, as various techniques protected them from whatever sinister force lurked on the outside.

The teenagers held beliefs, as it was the only thing that kept them relatively sane during this whole ordeal, most serving no relation to that of the religions from the world we all know and hopefully love. It all began when one of the members (now deceased) held a vision of a strange mirage of a woman, standing tall, though short in stature, forewarning the group of a strange prophecy. It told of stange beings entering the building of which they resided in, completely foreign to all that had occurred, being lost just like they were back when they first arrived to this location, stumbling about, looking for supplies, as each was plucked off. The woman told them to avoid this group, as they were considerably armed once they stepped foot inside this building, and the only two in the group that were armed were going to be no match against the newly arrived. It was thought that this new group was going to be just bandits, traveling the wasteland in search of food, plundering anything that stands in their ways.

But the woman told of a more positive trait of these foreign folk, one that can help the group find a resolution to the desolate quandary they somehow entered upon. It told of a traveler amongst the dangerous ones, one that only went by the name of "Golden-brown eyed girl," that held whatever method it took to get out of this land, hopefully back to a world filled with light, a world filled with the standard turmoils of the human population, as opposed to the turmoil of the darkness this building and the rest of the land provided. Who this girl was, what she looked like besides her eye color, and how she held a method to get out of this land, whatever getting out really meant, was never explained to the group, and thus was left ambiguous, the woman never exactly appearing again, only in brief showings across the gorup, though it was nothing more but a sweet smile and a gentle wave.

The group had two hunters, both still alive to this day. Both boys, speaking that of a southern Japanese accent, who came to this place bearing hunting rifles, and limited ammunition, though eventually they learned how to make their own bullets via the substances surrounding them, making this problem moot. At random points in the day creatures would wander close to the shelter, and the two were sent to hunt it down. They can easily bag a 20 ft creature without geeting even a mark on their bodies; they weren't hunters for nothing.

However, the capture they had made just earlier was something they couldn't really explain, something that one of them hesitated to shoot it, but the other said no, believing it to be alive, human perhaps. Nevertheless, they brought the capture with them back to base, where hopefully their leader could identify who or what the thing is or was.

"Yo, leader, we'got ya somethin'," one of the boys said, helping the other plop the figure down upon the table, gently of course, later lunging their guns down near a broken down contraption they could only guess was a heater, or something of a similar nature. The lights suspended from the roof casted a rather nice glow around the room, only being blocked by the endless cloud of steam being pumped from a couple of the outdated but still standing machinary in the back, though how long they could still operate was beyond question. The two hunters sat down criss-crossed, sighed in relief, and seem to pull out flasks that hung around their necks. They had those flasks since the first day they arrived, and even though it could've been years since they arrived, they didn't bother to change them.

A girl walked out from behind some machines and another table, looking perplexed at the sight before her, clothes ragged from overwear, hair slightly fuzzled from lack of care. She looked at the body before her, placing a hand over where the heart would normally be on a human, then suddenly yelped in fright once she felt the chest of the body move up, indicating a standard form of breathing.

"Aw'ight boss?" one of the hunters asked, taking another sip from their flask. The girl quickly regained her composure from her darling fright, and puffed a cheek at the two buffoons still sitting cross-legged, watching the body as it randomly shifted about.

"I'm alright, okay? Jeez, just a little startled. Not everyday you find a living person, correct?" She said matter-of-fact-like. The two hunters looked at each other and shrugged, once more returning to look at the girl on the table, whose head turned slightly, now facing towards the two boys.

The girl seemed to think for a second, looking up at the steam overcast, looking as though she wanted to just reach up to it and grab it, probably to see if that even was possible. Alas, she then looked behind her and shouted "Takeba! Front and center!"

A rather handsome, but still rather unkempt boy walked from somewhere in the back of the room towards the body on the table, which immediately caught him by surprise. Adjusting one of the long, white sleeves of his coat, which looked awfully, like that of a doctor's suit, though of course too big on the small child, he said:

"Who is this? Is she hurt?"

"So it'is a gal, eh? Told'ya!" One of the hunters yelled at the other one, who then proceeded to smack the other. The girl gave them a glare, and the two shut right up, placing both of their flasks back into a resting position on their necks.

"That's what I want you to find out, Takeba! You're the doctor here!" the girl shouted. Takeba bounded a little bit off of the balls of his feet, though he did then proceed to check over the unconcious girl. He did indeed take note of the person standing behind him in the shadows, who seemed to snicker (he always made fun of Takeba whenever he had to check over a girl for obvious reasons, which usually resulted in Takeba shooting out a painful stare that could frighten even the most stoic man.) with each hand movement over the girl's uniform, which to him looked surprisingly new.

"Hm, clothes are indeed dirty, though only from recent marks. Apparently has a scar in her middle region, fresh, though not bleeding; her legs are in pretty bad shape, appear to be bloodied up from something out in the halls; seemes to have slash marks running over the back of her, and some slightly on her breasts; face is dirty, but otherwise normal and healthy," Takeba gave a rundown of his analysis. The girl looked at him rather funny.

"She really is aive? Oh god, that's wonderful, right? Wait, where could she have possibly come from?" The girl asked, and Takeba shrugged.

"Eh, found her restin' near'the door out on the basement floor. Found dis with'er," one of the hunters said. He stood just a little up, and picked up the sword that lay lazily to the side of him, casting a nice reflection from the lights above.

"My god, she was armed? You don't think…" Takeba began to shudder, thinking of all the possibilities that could go along with this strange girl having a sword in her possession. The other girl shook her head.

"No, no, I know what you're thinking, Takeba, but it isn't the prophecy. I highly doubt there are any other people trapped inside this building," is what she said, before the body lying dormant on the table began to make noises.

"gurgah?"

The whole group, including the ones that have not properly shown themselves yet, jumped in explicable horror, as the body on the table began to shift awake, the eyes finally opening for the whole world to see,as Misao finally reawoken for the hundredth time in this strange dimension.

"My god, look," Takeba said with inexcusable surprise and shock, pointing a careless finger toward the girl, who still had a daze look on her face. Before Misao could properly awaken, the hunters and the other girl started to surround Misao, all being filled with shock & awe from the sight in front of them. Something that filled them all with thoughts of relief, terror, hope, and regret. When Misao finally came through, she only could look at their surprised faces, and felt a horrible urge to scream at the strangeness of strangers staring at her eyes.

Her eyes, of course, were golden-brown.

83 Students remaining

4 adults remaining


End file.
